I believe I said I was stupid multiple times in the post. I also never encountered this scam personally or knew anyone that had been hit by this as far as I recall. As someone who as a relative novice to TG I didn't think of doing that at the time. I did do this when I confirmed the real versus imposter later. Hopefully by spreading my story people will learn the easy way and not the hard way like I did. I'm also hoping to convince companies not to use TG (or any similar chat apps) as a support mechanism without having easy ways for a noob to confirm who they are talking to.

OP already feels embarrassed and ashamed, no need to rub it it and kick while he is down, Mr Tabula Rasa