Community management is a multifaceted job. With a substantial amount of variables, a Community Manager needs to take special care of the group members.
For instance, community text messages aren’t the only type of messaging that is happening on the server, but it is through them that scams have become a prevailing problem worldwide.
Should a community member respond to messages sent to them privately in a Telegram chat? And how can members distinguish between a legitimate message and a scam?
Private Messages Countermeasures
Usually, members who are targeted receive requests from impostors, asking for members’ private information. If the scam is successful, well, you know the rest of the story — the wallet of the targeted member can be emptied and fear can overtake the project’s community, causing losses to both the individual and the project assets.
Here are a couple of ways that can help decide if private messages (PMs) are worth opening or not.
“Admins Never PM First”
Receiving a PM from a legitimate admin is something that never happens in moderated communities. Messages from people that claim some responsibility for the group should already raise a concern about the validity of such a text.
If an admin would like to get in contact with a member, they would ask the individual — in a public chat — to send private channel messages to the admin first. In the case there’s any problem, this whole interaction can be traced back to the official chat where every other member has a log of who initiated the contact.
An Admin Would Never Ask for Confidential Data
A supposed admin often reaches out to the individual to ask for private information like a private key or credit card data, pretending that they will solve a member’s issue. If the unaware chat member shares this information and as a result is scammed, the image of the project will be jeopardized, too.
What members need to always remember is that a real admin would never ask for such details through private channel messages. Support for projects is usually built around an exterior support system not present in chats. Admins can help with minor queries, but the technical problems you might encounter are the responsibility of the dev team, which might also be present in the Telegram group.
Sending the Message to the Right People
If there is a problem and the moderator has publicly asked the member to reach out privately, then the community member should click on the admin’s community group messages to access their profile. From that point on the member can directly choose the “send message” option to reach out to them.
Report Suspicious Activities
Any irregularities in contact, such as people that might take on the identity of someone in power in the community and messaging bots sending misleading links should all be reported to the real admins of the group.
This not only protects the targeted member but the community too. Informing admins speeds up the process of removing potential threats from the group. If something is bothering a user in the contact channels, they should let the moderators know immediately. Shield your community by informing CMs about the dangers that can be found not only in community text messages, but in private messages as well.
AmaZix specializes in protecting communities from potential threats and moderating the space so it is a welcome, idea-inducing environment.
Find out more about our Community Management service to help your community be both more accessible and secure.