Ukraine busts ‘bot farm’ supplying thousands of fake Telegram accounts to Russian spies

Ukrainian authorities have dismantled a so-called “bot farm” that police say was supplying thousands of fake social media accounts to Russian intelligence services for use in disinformation campaigns against Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and the National Police said on Monday they detained the suspected organizer of the network in the northern city of Zhytomyr and blocked nearly 20,000 fraudulent online profiles allegedly used in information operations directed by Moscow.

According to law enforcement, the suspect sold more than 3,000 fake Telegram accounts each month to Russian clients. The accounts were created using Ukrainian mobile phone numbers and then marketed on specialized online platforms used by pro-Russian actors.

Read more at The Record