Telegram @BotFather is missing, only fake accounts. What to do?

Configuration
1

I started to setup Telegram notifications, and instructions say to first send a message to @BotFather. First of all, I know nothing about how Telegram works, but I am also deeply concerned about interacting with unknown entities. I really would rather not do this but, ok, the instructions say I have to do it…

My suspicions were confirmed when this list came up:

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None of these match the name I am supposed to match, and all of them look like they could be impersonators. I will not be proceeding further until someone here can steer me in the right direction.

It would also be comforting if someone can explain how @BotFather, or anyone else, will not somehow be accessing my notifications in the future.

2

Try this on the web, Telegram: Contact @BotFather

3

Yup, that worked. Thank you. It’s strange they don’t have that hyperlink in the instructions.

Got it all going but ended up not using Telegram notifications. I don’t want to keep the app open, I just want the notifications. But it seems that just makes notifications quite a bit slower.

4

Use telegram webhooks and you will get very prompt notifications if the app is open or not:

You can create actionable notifications too.

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