About nine months ago while researching a story, I found myself added to a large Telegram channel which was focused on selling drugs.
I was then added to one about hacking and then one about stolen credit cards.
I realised my Telegram settings had made it possible for people to add me to their channels without me doing anything. I kept the settings the same to see what would happen.
Within a few months, I had been added to 82 different groups.
I changed my settings to stop it, but now every time I log on I am treated to thousands of new messages across dozens of extremely active illegal groups.
The arrest of Telegram’s billionaire chief executive in France has ignited a debate about moderation on his app.
Pavel Durov has been charged for suspected complicity in allowing illicit transactions, drug trafficking, fraud and the spread of child sex abuse images to flourish on his site.
There is no doubt that criminality is happening on other social networks too, but my experiment hints at a broader problem that many in law enforcement have been concerned about for years.
Here is a flavour of some of the groups to which I have found myself added.
My Telegram app has become a one-stop shop for illegal goods, all without me actively searching for new sellers.
All the images were posted to the groups, and we have altered the names of the channels so as not to advertise them.