German Court Case Exposes Telegram Network That Drugged and Filmed Women in Secret
A phone call from police told a Chinese student in Germany that her ex-boyfriend had taken nude photos of her while she slept. She was one of many victims of an organised online group.
Key points
- German prosecutors identified a Telegram group, a private messaging app, whose members coordinated the drugging and secret filming of women, targeting mainly women of Chinese heritage.
- A woman named Ivy, 27, discovered she had been secretly photographed while unconscious by her former boyfriend, identified in court documents as Tong Z.
- Police approached Ivy in early 2024 after investigating Tong Z for sexual assault and covert photography.
- Victims had no knowledge they had been filmed until law enforcement made contact.
Early last year, Ivy got a phone call she almost ignored. The caller said he was a police officer. She assumed it was a scam.
It was not.
The officer told Ivy, a Chinese student living in Germany, that her former boyfriend, identified in German court documents as Tong Z, was under investigation for sexual assault and secret photography. Then police showed her nude images of herself taken while she was asleep. She recognised herself. She had no memory of those moments.
Ivy is 27 now. She is one of a number of women, mostly of Chinese heritage, identified as victims of an organised Telegram group whose members shared images and methods for drugging women without their knowledge.
How did this group operate without being caught sooner?
The group used Telegram precisely because the app's encrypted, private channels are difficult for outside parties to monitor. Members did not just share images. According to reporting first published by The Guardian, they shared advice, coordinated activity, and supported one another in targeting victims. The operation had the structure of a network, not isolated individuals acting alone.
That structure is what made prosecution possible once investigators got inside it. Digital records left inside private group chats can become court evidence.
For ordinary people reading this, the case carries a hard practical message. Covert photography, meaning photographs or video taken of someone without their knowledge or consent, is a criminal offence across most European jurisdictions. Germany's criminal code covers it directly. Victims often do not know it happened until police tell them.
If you have left a relationship and someone contacts you claiming to be law enforcement, do not dismiss the call. Verify it independently by calling your local police station's published number, and take the conversation seriously.
For organisations working with international student communities or diaspora groups, this case is a reminder that image-based abuse and covert recording are live safeguarding concerns, not edge cases. Support pathways matter.
The German proceedings are ongoing. The case has prompted wider discussion among prosecutors about the legal tools available when criminal coordination happens inside encrypted messaging apps, where evidence collection requires either a cooperating witness or access to a device.
