WhatsApp data leak: 500 million user records for sale

guest · Nov 24, 2022

By Jurgita Lapienytė @lapienyte - November 24, 2022

Someone is allegedly selling up-to-date mobile phone numbers of nearly 500 million WhatsApp users. A data sample investigated by Cybernews likely confirms this to be true.
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On November 16, an actor posted an ad on a well-known hacking community forum, claiming they were selling a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp user mobile numbers.

The dataset allegedly contains WhatsApp user data from 84 countries. Threat actor claims there are over 32 million US user records included.
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Another huge chunk of phone numbers belongs to the citizens of Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), and Turkey (20 million).
The dataset for sale also allegedly has nearly 10 million Russian and over 11 million UK citizens' phone numbers.

WhatsApp is reported to have more than two billion monthly active users globally.
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The seller did not specify how they obtained the database, suggesting they “used their strategy” to collect the data, and assured Cybernews all the numbers in the instance belong to active WhatsApp users.
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Leaked phone numbers could be used for marketing purposes, phishing, impersonation, and fraud.
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reasonablePrivacy · Nov 25, 2022

Is it only phone number or numer+name?

pegas · Nov 25, 2022

Supposedly just numbers but that's enough to be target for spamming, phishing etc.

reasonablePrivacy · Nov 25, 2022

pegas said: ↑

Supposedly just numbers but that's enough to be target for spamming, phishing etc.
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Still it is less likely to be succesfully phished by someone that does not even know your name.

guest · Nov 27, 2022

WhatsApp dismisses report of alleged data leak containing phone numbers of nearly 3 million Hongkongers
By Danny Mok @MokScmp - November 27, 2022

Report claims database containing mobile phone numbers of nearly 500 million users around the world was leaked and put up for sale

Meta spokesman calls report ‘speculative’ and based on ‘unsubstantiated screenshots’

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WhatsApp on Sunday dismissed a media report claiming that a database containing the mobile phone numbers of nearly 500 million users, including almost 3 million from Hong Kong, was leaked and put up for sale, saying it had found no evidence of a data breach.
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The article by Cybernews, a research-based online publication, reported an advert had appeared on a well-known hacking community forum on November 16 offering to sell a 2022 database containing the mobile phone numbers of 487 million users of WhatsApp, which is owned by tech giant Meta.

A Meta spokesman said the report was “speculative” and based on “unsubstantiated screenshots”, adding the company had not found any evidence of a data leak on WhatsApp systems.
Some of the phone numbers in the news report might be associated with WhatsApp accounts, but there was no other user information, he added.
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The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data on Friday said it had not received any notifications from Meta or WhatsApp about the alleged data leak. It had contacted the organisations for details.
If WhatsApp users suspected that their personal information had been compromised, they could contact the company or the office for inquiries, it added.
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