Nearly 500 million WhatsApp users’ phone numbers have been exposed in one of the biggest data breaches ever, and they are now for sale. According to a report by Cybernews, the database, which is for sale on a well-known hacker forum, comprises the personal data of WhatsApp users from 84 different countries.
The US dataset, which is accessible for $7,000, costs $2,500, while the UK dataset costs $7,000.
32 million US user records are reportedly included in the set, according to the person who put the data up for sale. Additionally, it has a sizable user base in Egypt, Italy, France, the UK, Russia, and India.
According to Cybernews, when they got in touch with the seller, he gave them 1,097 UK-based phone numbers as evidence. After looking into the numbers, the outlet was able to identify that they were all from WhatsApp accounts. The hacker, however, didn’t say how they got the information.
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Such data is frequently employed in cybercrimes like smishing and phishing, which both entail sending the victim a text message with a link that must be clicked. The user is then prompted for their payment card number or other sensitive information.
This is not the first time a platform operated by Meta has experienced a data leak. Over 500 million Facebook users’ personal information, including 6 million records from India, allegedly fell into the wrong hands last year. Phone numbers and other information were then included in the leaked data.