playbooks / telegram-investigation

Telegram channel / group investigation

Profile a Telegram channel or group, covering growth, cross-promotion networks and member overlap, and archive its content.

start: @ usernameyields: url, keywordlevel: intermediate

caution: Joining a group may expose your account's phone number and username to admins, depending on your privacy settings. Use a research account.

1. 01

   Channel analytics

   Get subscriber growth, posting frequency, and which channels mention or forward it. Sudden subscriber spikes suggest bought followers or a cross-promotion campaign.

   • TGStatfreemiumacct optionalapidetails
   • Telemetrfreemiumacct optionalapidetails

   → can yield: @Username ⇗URL

2. 02

   Identify the user behind an ID or handle

   Telegram usernames can change, but numeric IDs can't. Resolve a handle to its ID so you can track it through renames.

   • Tosintfreeactiveossclidetails

   → can yield: @Username

3. 03

   Archive and map the network

   Archive the channel's full message history and extract forwarded sources. The forwarding graph shows the channel's ecosystem.

   • Telepathyfreeacct reqossclidetails
   • telegram-trackerfreeacct reqossclidetails

   → can yield: @Username ⇗URL #Keyword