500 million Facebook users’ phone numbers leaked on Telegram

In 2020, hackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s server and were able to get access to millions of users’ mobile number and Facebook IDs, but it was under-reported in the media.

Now, it has come back to haunt Facebook, as an independent cybersecurity expert who goes by the moniker Alon Gal on Twitter has reported that the contact numbers of 530 million users are on sale. A hacker has created a bot to sell the information for $20 per number ( approx. Rs 1,458) on the Telegram application.

Gal says users across more than 100 countries including the US (32 million+) and India ( 6 million+) are at risk of getting preyed on by hackers.