What is an OSINT bot?
An OSINT bot in Telegram is a software agent that receives a query (phone number, username, photo or name), simultaneously accesses dozens of specialized databases and aggregates results into a single structured report.
The keyword is simultaneously. That's what makes a bot hundreds of times faster than manual search. While a person opens their third website, the bot has already processed 50 sources and is composing the answer.
Sherlock Bot is a classic example: send a query in Telegram, the bot queries 50+ open sources in 10–30 seconds and returns a ready report. No downloads, no registration.
The request pipeline: from input to report
Data sources — where legal bots get their data
GetContact and TrueCaller store hundreds of millions of records from users' phone books. When someone saved your number as "Alex from work" and synced contacts — that record is in the database. The bot queries the name and tags associated with a number via API.
Public profiles, avatars, geotagged posts. The bot searches for matches by username, linked phone number, or face in a photo. Private account data is not accessible.
Open company registries, vehicle history by VIN number, public court records, bankruptcy registries. The bot only queries what the government has made publicly accessible via official APIs.
- Leaked government databases — tax authority (FNS), police (MVD) records obtained via breaches
- Leaked banking data — transaction history, credit scores from hacked systems
- Using these is a criminal offense (Art. 272 of the Russian Criminal Code)
- Red flag: if a bot shows passport data, tax ID (INN) or banking history — it's using leaked databases