Mumbai, November 28: Amid reports of data leak of about 500 million users, Meta-owned WhatsApp denied the reports that claimed that phone numbers of 487 million users have been stolen. Earlier, reports claimed that data of WhatsApp users were stolen and allegedly put on sale on a "well-known" hacking community forum.

Speaking about the alleged data reports leak, a company spokesperson said "The claim written on Cybernews is based on unsubstantiated screenshots. There is no evidence of a 'data leak' from WhatsApp." As per reports, the purported list which is said to be leaked is said to be a set of phone numbers and not "WhatsApp user information". WhatsApp Users’ Phone Numbers Stolen and Put On Sale? Meta-Owned Messaging Platform Denies Allegation of 500 Million Users’ Data Leak.

Meanwhile, there are a few ways on how one can check whether their number and personal information have been leaked online or no.

Steps To Check if Your Data Has Been Leaked or No:

  • Visit the official website of Cybernews at www.cybernews.com

  • Now, enter your mobile number or Email ID in the international format

  • Next, click on the 'Check now' option

  • The result will show whether your data has been leaked or no

Reports also suggest that WhatsApp data of users from 84 countries including phone phone numbers of millions of users from US, UK, and Russia have been said to be leaked. Besides US, UK and Russia, countries such as Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and even India are said to be on the list of leaked data.

Reports also claim that the hacker has noteworthy number of phone numbers which belong to citizens of Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), and Turkey (20 million). If the news is true, then the data can be used to hackers to spam, phish and even identity theft among other cybercriminal activities.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 28, 2022 10:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).