Tee Hee Hee Hee
If you use a secure messaging service, like ̶T̶e̶l̶e̶g̶r̶a̶m̶ Signal, ̶T̶e̶l̶e̶g̶r̶a̶m̶ Threema, ̶T̶e̶l̶e̶g̶r̶a̶m̶ Silence or ̶W̶h̶a̶t̶s̶A̶p̶p̶ similar ¹, it’s highly likely that you have a ‘security number’ of some kind, which allows you to confirm with others that messages that appear to have been sent by you actually were sent by you (or at least from your device anyway) and not someone impersonating you … and, likewise, that any messages you receive from them were indeed sent by them (or at least from their device).
It’s there to let people know when your your device, SIM or number changes — which could be the result of someone else attempting to impersonate you. Likewise, when their security number (or your service’s/app’s equivalent) changes, you know that something about your communication channel has changed and to be cautious until you have confirmed that they made the change themselves and that it isn’t an indication of a third party impersonating them or otherwise breaking into your private, secure conversation.
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The chances are that you have never investigated this feature, likely don’t even know of its existence and, even more inexplicably for someone who actually bothers to use a secure messenger, ignore the notifications when they change (never even consciously registering their existence).
Go on … take a look back through your chat history … there are likely dozens (if not more) of them and you’ll be amazed to notice them and how old some of them are — because, of course, you’ve kept your entire chat history with everyone … probably even have it automatically backed up to ‘the Cloud’ somewhere, because (being entirely unaware of how these things work and never having bothered to find out) you never investigated that feature either.
And, even if you have, do and don’t, the chances are that you’ve never actually confirmed any of the numbers with anyone, so they’re completely pointless anyway — who has the time to secure their secure messenger, am I right?
Anyway … one way and/or another … you will definitely notice the notifications from now on — which is nice … because that’s what notifications are for: being noticed.
The chances are high, however, that the drooling Morlocks in your contacts list are as ignorant and/or slack as you and will continue not noticing a thing
Your friends and family being the subhuman lifeforms that they are (slightly below tapeworm on the evolutionary scale), it is, however, neither unethical nor immoral to play a trick on them — especially as they might learn a valuable lesson as a result.
So …
The next time their security number changes, send them this image
Don’t add a message or anything … just send them the pic with no explanation.
It doesn’t matter if they’re religious or not … it’ll freak them out either way.
For maximum impact, when they ask you why you sent it, deny all knowledge of it. No matter how much they insist otherwise, insist you “never sent it (whatever it is)” and don’t know what they’re talking about. If they forward it back to you as ‘proof’ that you did, simply respond with “Honestly, I’ve never seen that before in my life … Someone’s trying to impersonate me as a way of getting details from you and hacking into your phone, listening to everything you say, reading all your messages, looking at all your photos, watching you with your camera and getting into your bank account — have you checked the security number you have for me … is it the same as it should be?”
So, there you go … a bit of harmless, religious fun that will put the fear of God into your halfwit friends and family and teach them a valuable lesson that might result in their securing their device better — and, of course, the next time they change their device/SIM/number and you do it again, you get to have fun with them all over again 😉
It’s up to you how guilty you feel about their buying a new device they can ill afford and whether you come clean before they spend the money or if you’d rather burn in Hell for all Eternity … I can’t help you with that, I’m afraid … but it’s for a good cause, right — right?
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¹ In case that wasn’t clear: I don’t use Telegram and neither should you.
WhatsApp? OMG! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahaha!!! Stop it! You’ll be suggesting Facebook Messenger next … HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahaha!!!
