Cleaning Up After a Telegram Spam Raid: A Recovery Tutorial

A spam raid is when dozens of accounts join a Telegram group at once and flood it with links, scam offers or shock images. This guide covers the first hour after a raid and the settings that keep the next one out.

Minute 0–5: stop the bleeding

1. Open Edit → Permissions and temporarily switch off Send messages for members. The chat goes quiet instantly.
2. Revoke the invite link the raiders used (Invite links → Revoke) and create a fresh one.
3. Turn on Slow mode (1 minute) so it is ready when you reopen.

Minute 5–30: remove the raiders

Open Members → Recent. Raid accounts usually joined within the same few minutes. Ban them from the newest down; banning also lets you tick Delete all messages from this user, which clears their posts in one action.

Use Recent actions (the admin log) filtered by "New members" to make sure you did not miss anyone.

Minute 30–60: reopen safely

• Restore Send messages but keep Send links and Send media off for members for a day.
• Post a short note telling members what happened and reminding them admins never DM first.
• Report the worst accounts with Report → Spam.

Preventing the next raid

Raids depend on new accounts being able to talk immediately. A join check removes that. 虾宝 (Xiabao), available as @xiabaotg_bot, is an anti-spam bot that is free for group owners: it challenges every new member, mutes accounts that fail, and can lock the group automatically when a burst of joins arrives. Add it as an admin with Delete messages and Ban users, then test it from a second account.

Recovery checklist

• Members muted and link revoked
• Raid accounts banned with messages deleted
• Admin log checked
• Link/media restrictions on for 24 h
• Join verification enabled

Disclosure: written by the 虾宝 team, which maintains the bot described above.