4.75 crore Indian Truecaller data on sale for Rs 75,000? Company responds

As per a report coming from online intelligence firm Cyble, some personal data of 4.75 crore Indians have been put on sale for $1,000 (that roughly translates to around Rs 75,000) on dark web.

As per a report coming from an online intelligence firm, Cyble, suggests that some personal data of 4.75 crore Indians have been put on sale for $1,000 (that roughly translates to around Rs 75,000) on dark web. The report claims that data has been sourced from Truecaller’s database but the company denies the claims. In an email statement, Truecaller said that there has been no breach of its database and all user information is saved securely.

A Truecaller spokesperson said, “We take the privacy of our users and the integrity of our services extremely seriously and we are continuously monitoring for suspicious activities.” Cyble in its blog had noted, “Our researchers have identified a reputable seller, who is selling 4.75 crore Indians Truecaller records for USD 1,000 (about Rs 75,000). The data is from 2019. We were also taken off by surprise with such a low price point.” “We noticed that the information was quite well organised such by state, cities and carrier. The actor must have spent a reasonable amount of time in organising this,” the blog further noted.

In the blog post Cyble noted that the user data on sale includes mobile numbers, gender, city, mobile network, Facebook id  and some more personal details. “Cyble researchers are progressing with their analysis, but clearly, this leak may have a potential impact on broader users in India such as spams, scams, identity thefts etc. We will update this blog as we get more information,” the blog post further noted.

Further clarifying Truecaller said that they were informed about a similar sale of data in May 2019. The spokesperson noted, “What they have here is likely the same dataset as before. It’s easy for bad actors to compile multiple phone number databases and put a Truecaller stamp on it. By doing that, it lends some credibility to the data and makes it easier for them to sell.” Truecaller urged everyone to “not to fall prey to such bad actors whose primary motive is to swindle the people of their money.”