Several members of the French National Assembly have had their Telegram accounts hacked, prompting warnings to their colleagues on how to avoid similar incidents.
On Wednesday, November 20, several lawmakers received an email alert from the parliamentary cybersecurity department about “compromised accounts” on Telegram.
Lawmakers were advised not to click on suspicious links that request their phone numbers, as doing so could lead to their Telegram accounts being compromised and used to spread “malicious content.” According to Politico, the fraudulent messages were disguised as offers to view photos of “your elementary school teacher.”
Laura Lavalette, a member of the National Assembly from the far-right National Rally party, was among the few to publicly confirm that her Telegram account had been hacked, the report states.
Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France at the end of August, the platform has come under increased scrutiny from French authorities due to the cybersecurity risks it poses.
