How to Report a Scam Telegram Bot

The sequence, in order

Stop, save what you have, then report on two levels: the account and the messages. After that, warn the real team through the handle its own website publishes, secure the wallet, and only then decide whether to file with anyone else.

That order matters because each step protects a different thing: your remaining funds, the evidence Telegram needs, other users who might meet the same account, and the real bot's reputation.

The seven steps

1. Stop interacting. No more deposits, no seed phrase or private key typed into any bot, no links opened from the account that contacted you.
2. Save the evidence. Copy the handle character by character, note the numeric ID from the profile, screenshot the chat and its first message.
3. Report the account inside Telegram. Open its profile, tap Report, pick the closest reason.
4. Report the individual messages that carried the fake handle. An account report and a message report are different signals, and both help.
5. Tell the real bot team. Reach it only through the handle published on the bot's own website, never through a link in the chat that scammed you.
6. Secure the wallet. If funds were taken, treat the wallet as exposed before anything else.
7. File with the authorities and the platforms involved, if you choose to.

What reporting does and does not do

Reporting is how an account gets removed and how other people get warned. It never returns funds. A confirmed on-chain transfer is final: Telegram cannot reverse it, the bot's team cannot reverse it, and no report changes that.

Nothing here comes with a promised response time or outcome, from Telegram or from any bot team. The steps are worth doing because they limit further loss and make the fake account easier to remove, not because they recover what was sent.

Each step is set out in detail below.

What counts as a scam Telegram bot

A scam bot is an account on Telegram that pretends to be a trading bot, a support agent or a recovery service in order to get funds, a private key or a payment out of you. The mechanics differ, the goal does not.

Three shapes it takes

Common entry routes

Most people meet a fake through one of these:

• A link posted in a token's chat or a project's group.
• A sponsored or forwarded message that appears in your feed.
• A reply under someone else's question in a group, written to look like help.
• A handle copied from a screenshot or a video instead of from the bot's own website. Screenshots are easy to edit and easy to misread.

The second wave

After funds are gone, more accounts appear. One offers to recover the loss for an upfront payment. Another, posing as support, asks for your seed phrase or private key to "trace" the transaction. No legitimate bot team needs a seed phrase, and none needs your private key to investigate anything. Anyone who asks is after the wallet, not the transaction.

Two rules that filter most fakes

A genuine bot does not message you first. You open the conversation yourself, using the handle the bot's own website publishes.

And keep in mind what a bot holds: one that needs a private key to trade can move the whole wallet, not just the balance you meant to trade. That is why a convincing fake is worth more to a criminal than a bad trade.

Collect the evidence before you tap report

The report form inside Telegram gives you a category and a short text box. It cannot hold the details that make a case: which account, what it copied, what it asked for, what was sent. Assemble that file first. Ten minutes of collecting turns "this is a scam" into a report that can be checked.

Copy the handle character by character

Write the handle down exactly as it appears, underscores, digits and trailing words included. Then open the account's profile and note its numeric ID, the long number shown on that screen. A handle can be changed or reused by someone else; the numeric ID belongs to that one account. Keep both in the same note.

Screenshot the chat

Four shots cover most of it:

• the account as it appears in your chat list
• the profile screen showing the handle and the numeric ID
• the first message the account sent you, unrequested
• any message carrying a payment request, a wallet address or a link

Keep the original files. No cropping, no annotations, no tidying up the wording.

Record what left the wallet

If funds moved, write down the transaction hash, the token and the amount, the destination address, the chain and the time. All of it is public on a block explorer, and the hash is the most useful single line you can hand to the real bot team when you warn them.

Store it outside the chat

Copy the screenshots and the note to your gallery, a notes app or your own email. Blocking the account and deleting the conversation removes the thread from your phone, and the screenshots taken inside that thread go with it.

Stop gathering at that point

Once you hold the handle, the ID, the screenshots and the hash, stop. Do not send more messages, promises or small test transfers to see what happens next. Further contact gives the account more to work with, and the record you already have is enough.

Check the handle against the bot's own website

The only trustworthy source for a bot's handle is the bot's own website or documentation. Not a link inside the chat that messaged you, not a screenshot someone shared, not a post in a Telegram group, not the first search result for the bot's name.

Compare it character by character

Open a separate browser tab and type the domain yourself rather than following any link you were sent. Then put the handle from the site next to the handle in your chat and read them one character at a time.

The tricks repeat:

• an underscore at the start or the end of the name
• a doubled letter, or two characters swapped
• an added _bot on a handle that never had one
• a trailing word such as _support, _official or _help
• a capital letter where the real handle has a lowercase one

Handles published by the bots themselves

Each bot page is the place to read the handle character by character before you start anything: /bot/banana-gun, /bot/bloom, /bot/bonkbot, /bot/gmgn, /bot/maestro, /bot/pepeboost, /bot/sigma, /bot/trojan and /bot/unibot.

For BullX, Looter, MevX and Shuriken no official handle is published, so the only place to check is each product's own website.

Do not search the handle either

Copying a handle out of a chat message and pasting it into a search engine can surface a second impersonator using the same trick, sometimes with an ad bought against the name. Type the domain you know and compare from there. If the handle on the site does not match the one in your chat letter for letter, stop and do not tap Start.

How to report a bot inside Telegram

The in-app steps below follow Telegram's own FAQ, which is the source for how reporting works in the app. Nothing else is needed: no form on a website, no email, no third-party service.

Report the account first

1. Open the chat with the bot and tap its name or avatar to open the profile.
2. Tap Report.
3. Pick the reason closest to what happened. The list Telegram offers changes, so choose the nearest match rather than looking for an exact one.
4. Confirm, then block the account.

That sequence flags the bot itself, so Telegram can look at the account as a whole: its name, its handle, its photo and its history.

Report the messages as well

The account report and the message report are different signals. The account report points at the bot; the message report points at the specific content that carried the fake handle, the payment request or the link you were asked to tap. Each is reviewed on its own, so sending both gives Telegram the account and the evidence in the same place.

To report a message:

• Long-press the message in the chat.
• Choose Report.
• Pick the closest category.
• Add a short factual note if the form offers a field for one, for example "handle copies @BloomSolana_bot with an extra underscore".

Groups and channels

If the scam account operates through a group or channel rather than a one-to-one chat, reporting works the same way from the group or channel profile: open it, tap Report, choose the closest reason.

Then block and delete

Block the account so it cannot message you again, and delete the chat so a stray tap on an old message cannot reopen it. Blocking does not undo anything already sent.

A report is a moderation signal. It is not a refund claim, and it comes with no response time and no promised outcome.

Copy the handle from the bot's own page and compare it letter by letter before you tap start.

Report the impersonation to the real bot team

The chat that scammed you is the last place to find the real team's contact. Close it, open a fresh browser tab, and go to the bot's own website. The handle published there is the one to message. Not a link pasted into the fake chat, not a "manager" who introduced themselves in the same thread, not a forwarded contact card.

What to send the team

Keep the first message short and factual:

• The impersonating handle, copied character by character.
• The numeric ID shown on that profile. Handles change; IDs are harder to swap.
• Screenshots of the profile and of the first message it sent you.
• The chain and the transaction hash, if funds moved.
• Roughly when the account contacted you.

Teams use reports like this to warn their own users and to request takedowns of the copy.

Official handles, as published by each bot

For BullX, Looter, MevX and Shuriken, take the handle from the bot's own website before you contact anyone.

Why it is worth doing even with no loss

A team that knows about a copy can post a warning to its channel, and that warning reaches the people who trade through the same bot. Your report is also evidence: several reports of one handle describe a pattern, not a mistake.

Keep expectations level

A team cannot reverse a transfer, cannot pull funds back from a wallet it does not control, and cannot promise a reply time. What it can do is warn users and chase the account.

Never send a seed phrase or private key

No legitimate team member needs them, whatever the reason given. That includes a "support" account that appears in the chat you already distrust. Treat any request for a seed phrase as the scam continuing under a new name.

Watch for the warning afterwards

Check the bot's own site or channel for what the team posts about the impersonator. The wording they use is often the fastest way to recognise the same trick if it returns with a new character swapped.

If funds were taken, secure the wallet first

Treat the wallet that touched the fake bot as exposed. The transfer you already see may not be the last loss.

Move what is left to a fresh wallet

Create a new wallet and keep its seed phrase offline, on paper, never in a photo or a cloud note. Then move every asset still sitting in the exposed wallet, on every chain that wallet used, not only the chain where the loss happened. A fake bot that captured a key on Solana can use the same key on Ethereum, Base or BNB Chain if funds sit there.

Revoke token approvals

Open a block explorer for each chain the wallet used and load its token approval tool, then revoke every approval the wallet granted, starting with contracts you do not recognise. An approval left open lets a contract keep pulling tokens from the wallet later, long after you stop using it.

Refuse recovery offers

After a loss becomes visible, an account may message you offering to recover the funds for an upfront fee, or asking for the seed phrase to "trace" the transaction. Never share the seed phrase or private key with anyone, and never type it into a bot, a website or a recovery form. A confirmed on-chain transfer is final and cannot be reversed by Telegram, by the bot's team or by anyone else, so a payment requested before any recovery is the second wave of the same scam.

Why the wallet has to be replaced

A trading bot that holds your private key can move the whole wallet, not just the token you meant to trade. Once a fake bot has had that access, tidying up the existing wallet is not enough. A new wallet is the only fix.

These steps limit further loss. They do not undo the first transfer.

File with the authorities and the platforms involved

Reporting inside Telegram moderates the app. Filing with the authorities records a crime. They are separate actions, run in parallel, and one does not replace the other.

The official route

In most countries the entry point is a police report or a national cybercrime portal. Procedures, thresholds and forms differ by country, so check what your local police force or cybercrime unit asks for rather than following another country's template.

A fraud report is built from the material collected before you started reporting:

• The transaction hash of every transfer you sent
• Timestamps of the first contact, the deposit and any later messages
• Screenshots of the chat, the bot profile and the handle exactly as displayed
• The full destination address you sent funds to, copied rather than retyped

That set is what a report form or an officer will ask for first. Without it, a report describes a loss but gives nothing to trace.

The exchange route

If the destination address belongs to a custodial exchange, that exchange's support team may be able to act on the receiving account. Their ability to do so depends on their own policies and on what the law requires of them, and they will not discuss another user's account with you.

What you can supply is the reference they need: the transaction hash, the address, the amount, the time and your own account details if you hold an account there. Send it through their official support channel, not through anyone who contacts you offering to recover the funds.

Two different purposes

Neither returns funds. A confirmed on-chain transfer is final, and no report reverses it.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For questions about a specific case, ask your local authority or a lawyer.

What reporting can and cannot do

What a report can achieve

• Telegram can remove an account that breaks its rules.
• A single message that carried the fake handle can be taken down.
• The real bot team can warn its own users and publish the impersonated handle.
• An authority can open a case if money was lost.

Each of those outcomes helps the next person. None of them helps your balance.

What a report cannot achieve

• It cannot reverse an on-chain transfer. A confirmed transfer is final, and Telegram cannot pull it back.
• It cannot restore a balance or produce a refund from the bot's team or from anyone else.
• It cannot tell you who was behind the handle.
• It cannot stop the same trick reappearing under a new handle, often within days.

That last point is the one that matters most. Removal is clean-up. The handle check is the protection that works before a trade, and it only takes a minute.

Make the check a habit

Keep a short note on your phone with the official handle of every bot you actually use, copied from that bot's own page. Bloom's page publishes @BloomSolana_bot, BONKbot's publishes @bonkbot_bot, and each bot page in the comparison list carries the handle it publishes. Before you start a new conversation with anything that looks like a trading bot, open the note and read the handle next to the one on screen.

Copy the handle from the bot's own page and compare it letter by letter before you tap start.

Check the handle before the next trade

The cheapest protection is a habit: never start a bot from a link, a forwarded message or a search result. Start it from the handle the bot itself publishes.

Where to check

The full comparison list at /bots shows every bot with the handle it publishes. For a character-by-character check, keep these pages open:

• B/bot/banana-gun, which publishes@BananaGun_botOPEN
• B/bot/bloom, which publishes@BloomSolana_botOPEN
• B/bot/bonkbot, which publishes@bonkbot_botOPEN
• B/bot/gmgn, which publishes@GMGN_sol_botOPEN
• B/bot/maestro, which publishes@maestroOPEN
• B/bot/pepeboost, which publishes@pepeboost_sol_botOPEN
• B/bot/sigma, which publishes@Sigma_buyBotOPEN
• B/bot/trojan, which publishes@solana_trojanbotOPEN
• B/bot/unibot, which publishes@unibotsniper_botOPEN

For Solana trading specifically, /chain/solana groups the bots available there, each linking to its own page.

The routine, in three lines

1. Open the bot's own website and find the handle it publishes there.
2. Copy that handle from the site, not from a chat or a message.
3. Paste it into Telegram, open the profile, and compare it letter by letter, underscores and trailing words included, before you press start.

A trading bot that holds your private key can lose the funds in the wallet it controls. Trading memecoins can lose all of the money put in, so size any position with that in mind.

See every bot in the comparison list with the official handle it publishes at /bots, and check it before the next trade.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get my money back after sending funds to a scam bot?

Usually not. A transfer on-chain is final: once the funds reach an address the scammer controls, no bot, wallet or Telegram can reverse the transaction. What you can do is limit the damage. Stop sending more. If you signed a token approval, revoke it with your wallet's approval tool. Move any remaining funds to a fresh wallet whose seed phrase you have never shared. Report the fake bot to Telegram and to the real bot's team. If you sent from an exchange account, contact that exchange with the transaction hash. Anyone who asks for an upfront fee to recover your funds is running a second scam.

How do I report a fake Telegram bot?

Open the fake bot's profile, tap the menu and choose Report, then pick Scam or Fake account. Report the messages too: long-press the message that carries the scam link or payment request, choose Report, and pick the closest category. Block the account afterwards. Then tell the real bot's team through the support route on the real bot's own website, so they can warn other users. If money moved, file a report with your local police or cybercrime unit and keep the transaction hash. Telegram reviews reports and decides what action to take; reporting does not recover funds.

How can I tell the real bot from an impersonator?

Get the handle from the bot's own website, never from an ad, a DM, a group chat or a search result, then compare it character by character. Impersonators copy the display name and logo and change one letter or add a suffix, so read the username, not the display name. For example, Banana Gun's official handle is @BananaGun_bot and BONKbot's is @bonkbot_bot; anything close to those is not them. No legitimate support person needs your seed phrase. If a bot asks for it, stop and report the account.

Should I report the account, the messages, or both?

Both, because they do different things. Reporting the account flags the profile to Telegram; reporting individual messages gives Telegram the content, such as the scam link or the payment request, to review. In the chat, long-press each message, choose Report and pick the closest category. On the profile, use Report and choose Scam or Fake account. Then block the account and delete the chat. Take screenshots first: the username, the messages and the wallet address you paid. You may need them for the real bot's team, your exchange or the police. Reporting does not recover funds and you will not be told the outcome.

What should I send to the real bot team?

Send the impersonator's exact username, not its display name, plus screenshots of the chat and the fake profile. Include the wallet address you sent to, the transaction hash, the chain, the token, the amount and the time. Do not send your seed phrase or private key, and do not send a "test" payment to any address a team member gives you in a DM. Use only the support route listed on the bot's own website. A team can warn its users and block the impersonator from its channels. It cannot reverse an on-chain transfer.

Who do I contact if the funds went to an exchange address?

Contact that exchange's support immediately. Send the transaction hash, the chain, the asset, the amount, the time and the deposit address you used. Exchanges sometimes freeze a deposit flagged as scam-related, but only while the funds are still there, and their decision depends on their own policy and on requests from law enforcement. In parallel, file a police or cybercrime report where you live and pass the reference number to the exchange. Keep every screenshot and message. Do not pay a recovery service. This is not legal, tax or financial advice.

Sources

• Telegram FAQ
• Banana Gun
• Bloom fee documentation
• BONKbot fee documentation
• GMGN documentation
• Maestro documentation
• Pepeboost documentation
• Sigma fee documentation
• Trojan FAQ
• Unibot documentation