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Bottom Line Up Front:. The hackers operating on Telegram have discovered a bug in the purchasing/refund platform that the online retailers Amazon, Walmart and Costco use. For a percentage of the purchase price, they can trick the system into issuing a refund without actually returning the item sold. According to the chat logs on the channel, depending on which retailer you use, a person can defraud the company 7-11 times before their account is banned. Eco-Fascists on Telegram quickly picked up on the service and started promoting its use on their channels. Noting the sample results, the items purchased are in the $1,000s. If enough people were to take advantage of the Telegram channel's service before the flaw in the system is found, the results could be quite costly to the retailers. Though elaborate refund fraud scams are not new, the hacker's use of Telegram and the subsequent racists' discovery of the refund fraud scam on Telegram is new.
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Image Above: Execution site where four bodies were discovered.
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TRAC INCIDENT REPORT: Los Contadores Gang Executes 4 FARC Dissidents in a Mangrove Swamp in la Pampa Village, Mosquera Municipality in El Charco, Nariño, Colombia |
On the evening of 20 September, armed gunmen from Los Contadores gang went house to house in El Porvenir neighborhood of El Charco taking four men out of their homes into a mangrove swamp for execution. Three of the four men killed, identified as José Erney Miranda Valencia, Cristian Miranda, Fabián Olave Estupiñan and Orlindo Cuero Castillo, were related. The executions were a clear message to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissidents who are reorganizing, Los Contadores gang remains in territorial control. As of this month, at least a dozen armed groups are vying for control of Nariño drug trafficking routes. The execution video circulated on Twitter on 21 September. According to Colombian authorities, Los Contadores have more than 400 fighters in its ranks with links to Mexican Cartels.
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(Video/Photos) Islamic State West Africa (ISWA / ISGS): Attack on al-Qaeda elements (JNIM) West of Menaka, Gao, Mali (2 August 2020) |
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Images: (above); Banner leading into photo report with descriptions of the photos; (below) screenshot from video of attack.
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Image (above): Poster on Telegram Channel
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(Poster) Anarchist Telegram Channel: "You Can Dismantle a Fascist Police State by Voting and Other Fairytales" |
TRAC has observed in its monitoring of multiple online platforms a topical convergence between left and right wing extremists in terms of their desired goals and perceived enemies. Both milieus identify a common thread, that influential Jews are the hidden-hand behind society's inequalities and the U.S. Federal government's "draconian policies." Furthermore, a shared stake in highlighting environmental degradation, anti-capitalism / anti-wealth (often tied in with the 'Jewish question'), rent strikes and attacks on infrastructure are issues and tactics that currents within, both sides are promoting. Though motivations are completely different, now the opinion of "there is no political solution" resolve the current state of affairs of the United States also becomes a topical convergence. From the extreme far right, nothing short of a race war and the rise of an entirely white ethno-state is the reason not to participate in the elections; from the extreme far left, the reorganization of wealth and removal of capitalism are the motivations. |
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(Right Wing Extremism) Fascist Telegram Channel Recirculates 30 September 2019 Video "Jews Don't Fear an Election" |
The video represents continued expression from the extreme far right Telegram circles that there is 'no political solution' to the problems of the United States. Nothing short of a race war and total societal collapse is the only route to return to the white entho-state. Telegram channels across the board have been expressing violence to the 2020 Presidential elections since May 2020, but since the BLM protests and subsequent riots across the US over summer 2020, the concept of "Voting Will Not Remove Them" has been a reoccurring theme on Telegram. This specific Telegram channel recirculated the following video nearly a year to the day after it was released last year. The week prior, this same Telegram channel had 6,881 subscribers; today the channel's influence has grown to 6,959 subscribers.
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Screen Shot (above): Video poster on Telegram Channel
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(Video) Islamic State Khurasan (ISK): 'To be absolved before your Lord' 2- Afghanistan |
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TRAC's Weekly Analyst Review is a small curated list of many events.
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TRAC Weekly Analyst Briefing
As many of our clients know, we invite one organization a week to sit in on our Analyst Briefing. The briefings take place at 10 AM US eastern time and last an hour. We meet virtually in TRAC's online conference center.
If your organization is interested in attending, please schedule with the link below. We look forward to having you join us and ask questions.
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