App boss ‘Russia’s Zuckerberg’

TELEGRAM was dreamed up by Pavel Durov – a Russian billionaire with a penchant for shirtless web snaps.

Now it has more than 100 million users and boasts “military-grade” encryption.

But that makes it perfect for criminals who cannot be traced.

It’s so called end-to-end encryption leaves no trace of messages on servers and they can only be accessed on the devices where they were written. Telegram is available free on the Apple Store and Google Play.

Durov, 35, has dismissed talk of Islamic State using it, saying: “Privacy is more important than fear of bad things like terrorism.”

Often referred to as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia”, his online success has helped make him worth £2.6billion.

He fled his home country in 2014 after refusing requests from the Russian government to turn over data on users of VKontakte, his equivalent of Facebook.

Eccentric Durov’s Instagram account is filled with photos of himself in exotic locations.

Once romantically linked to top Russian glamour model Alena Shishkova, he wears only black and once threw paper planes made from money out of his office window.