419 Million Records: Facebook Users' Phone Numbers Leaked Online

Unknown individuals have published a database containing the phone numbers of hundreds of millions of Facebook users online, according to TechCrunch. It is reported that millions of phone numbers linked to Facebook accounts were found in the public domain and were not protected by a password. The database has now been removed from the internet.

The leaked data includes more than 419 million records belonging to users from various countries, of which 133 million are from residents of the United States, 50 million from Vietnam, and 18 million from residents of the United Kingdom. According to TechCrunch, each entry contains the user’s unique Facebook identification number and their associated phone number. In some cases, the user’s country of residence, name, and gender were also included.

The report does not clarify what percentage of the accessible information was duplicated or erroneous. It also states that information regarding the availability of the database was shared by a TechCrunch expert named Sanym Jem. It remains unclear who is behind the incident.

Facebook’s official representatives have indicated that the data was likely obtained through Facebook’s phone number search feature, which has not been operational since April of this year.