A researcher noticed that every time a "beautiful number" like #2222, #3333, or #7777 was about to be upgraded, user "Tanya" would claim it minutes after it mysteriously became unclaimed. Tanya has been linked to "Artem," a confirmed Telegram developer, through matching surnames, same city, and similar age. We documented the evidence in the image above. More proof exists beyond what fits in one post.
Documented cases: Fine Pen #4444, #5555, #7777. Bling Binky #5555, #7777. Timeless Book #22222 and #48885 (0.5% black background, 1-second claim window). Pretty Posy #33333. Durov's Glasses #2222 and #3333 (2.5 hour gap from #3332).
EXPLANATION (proofs + more arguments, skip if not interested):
Here's exactly what happened to @m1stervlad. He tried to upgrade #5555 of a gift collection. The number simply didn't exist yet. He got #5556 instead. A few minutes later, #5555 suddenly appeared, already owned by Tanya. Same with #7777: #7776 and #7778 were both upgradeable, but #7777 didn't exist. Minutes later, it appeared. Tanya's again.
How is this possible? A researcher building his own MTProto server (j++gram) confirmed that gift attributes and numbers are almost certainly pre-calculated and stored in a database before anyone upgrades, because true randomness can't maintain accurate rarity percentages over time. Anyone with database access can see which number produces a rare black background or a #X000 result, then place a server-side hold on that number so nobody else can claim it, releasing it only when they personally upgrade. For earlier gifts, no lag was even needed: Tanya and Artem simply claimed rare numbers in the exact millisecond they became available, which is only possible if you already know which number to watch. As the pattern grew more obvious, the method shifted to actively locking numbers for minutes at a time.
Should Telegram respond to this publicly? 👇
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