Miss Universe Philippines 2021 top 16 finalist Rousanne “Ayn” Bernos warned social media users about a sketchy Telegram user using her pictures as profile photo.
The Nylon Manila editor-in-chief on June 8 shared screengrabs of her Telegram chat exchange with an individual calling his/herself Charise Mae Gonzales with the username @Make_money5678.
The individual had four profile photos that featured Ayn’s face.
“SMS scammers have moved to Telegram and I’ve — how do we go about this?” the former beauty queen aspirant wrote on her Twitter account.
In their chat, Ayn told the individual that the latter was using her photos.
“Stop scamming people,” she said.
“Who are you?” the Telegram user responded.
Ayn introduced herself as the girl in the individual’s profile photo and told the latter to take her photos “down.”
“Where is your photo? Where is the proof? F**k you,” the individual responded.
Ayn then sent a screengrab of her Instagram page and said that her photos were “all over social media.”
“I’m a verified creator,” she added.
The individual insisted that they were using their supposed own photo, to which Ayn said she would have them “reported.”
The Telegram user claimed that the former beauty queen aspirant was “confused,” adding that they were just using a “similar” photo.
“I’ll have you reported,” Ayn stressed.
Ayn also shared a screengrab of the individual’s profile information to raise awareness about the scammer.
The content creator added that she already reported the account to Telegram and through one of its emails, abuse@telegram.org, saying that the individual threatened to hack her socials.
As of writing, the scammer’s profile is still active on Telegram.
Last January, a security SaaS (software as a service) platform reported the detection of “impersonation” in Telegram chats done by bad actors “to deliver malware.”
A credit monitoring service also said that among the scams in Telegram include “phishing attacks.”
It added that this occurs when a “Telegram user poses as someone you’d otherwise trust (such as a friend, colleague, or a customer support agent) to trick you into giving up your personal information.”