# telegram-scam-baiter

Telethon + OpenAI bot that engages unsolicited DMs with safe, time-wasting small talk. It uses a focused system prompt, keeps recent chat history, and replies with human-like delays to keep scammers busy while revealing nothing useful.

## What it does
- Listens for messages from a single target (by username or numeric user ID), or auto-targets the first inbound DM.
- Maintains a rolling history and crafts short, question-ending replies to keep the other person typing.

## Environment variables

| Variable              | Required | Default               | Description                                                                 |
|-----------------------|----------|-----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| TG_API_ID             | yes      | —                     | Telegram API ID from https://my.telegram.org                                |
| TG_API_HASH           | yes      | —                     | Telegram API hash from https://my.telegram.org                              |
| TG_SESSION            | no       | telethon_session      | Session file prefix used by Telethon                                        |
| TARGET_USERNAME       | no       | —                     | Target's public username (without @). Leave empty if using TARGET_USER_ID   |
| TARGET_USER_ID        | no       | 0                     | Target's numeric Telegram user ID (use if no username)                      |
| TARGET_DISPLAY_NAME   | no       | —                     | Person’s display name (case-insensitive; exact or partial match across dialogs) |
| TARGET_CACHE_FILE     | no       | target_id.txt         | Path to store resolved numeric ID for future runs                           |
| OPENAI_API_KEY        | yes      | —                     | OpenAI API key                                                              |
| OPENAI_MODEL          | no       | gpt-4o-mini           | Chat-capable model used for replies                                         |
| MIN_DELAY_SEC         | no       | 25                    | Minimum delay (seconds) before each reply                                   |
| MAX_DELAY_SEC         | no       | 75                    | Maximum delay (seconds) before each reply                                   |
| HISTORY_FILE          | no       | chat_history.jsonl    | Path to local JSONL file for conversation history                           |
| MAX_TOKENS_HISTORY    | no       | 2200                  | Rough token budget for messages passed to the model                         |
| MAX_MESSAGES_HISTORY  | no       | 30                    | Hard cap on number of messages kept in rolling history                      |
| AUTO_OPENER_ENABLED   | no       | false                 | If true, send an initial opener only on fresh start when a target is resolved and no catch-up reply was needed |
| OPENER_TEXT           | no       | —                     | The opener text to send when AUTO_OPENER_ENABLED=true                        |
| TYPING_SIM_ENABLED    | no       | true                  | Show a "typing…" indicator before sending the message                        |
| TYPING_WPM            | no       | 22                    | Approximate words per minute to estimate typing duration                     |
| TYPING_MIN_SEC        | no       | 2.0                   | Minimum typing duration (seconds)                                            |
| TYPING_MAX_SEC        | no       | 18.0                  | Maximum typing duration (seconds)                                            |
| PYTHONUNBUFFERED      | no       | 1                     | If set, forces unbuffered output in some environments                       |

Notes:
- Set one of TARGET_USERNAME, TARGET_USER_ID, or TARGET_DISPLAY_NAME. If none are set, the first inbound DM will become the target automatically.
- The opener is disabled by default to avoid sending context-specific messages; enable explicitly with AUTO_OPENER_ENABLED and provide OPENER_TEXT.
- Increase delays if you hit Telegram flood limits.

## License

MIT License — see LICENSE file for details.