The next time you see a Telegram bot promising to strip watermarks from premium stock photos, remember: They haven't. The bots are selling a fantasy—and harvesting your data while doing it.

In the fast-paced world of digital content, Telegram has emerged as an unlikely hub for a controversial service: the automated removal of watermarks. Search for terms like "@RemoveWatermarkBot" or "@VideoWatermarkRemoverBot," and you’ll find dozens of tools promising to "clean" images and videos from TikTok, Canva, CapCut, Shutterstock, and Getty Images in seconds.