In another breach of privacy, a user is reportedly selling a
database comprising of phone numbers of Facebook users using an automated
Telegram bot, according to a report by Motherboard.  

The person in charge of the bot claimed to have access to 533
million users, which was a result of a Facebook mix-up apparently fixed in
2019. It claims to possess information on Facebook users from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and 15 other countries.

Alon Gal, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of
cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock first alerted the Motherboard about the database
“being sold in cybercrime communities.”

The Telegram bot has the potential to find a person’s phone
number if the person’s Facebook user ID is given, and vice versa. Such personal
information is being sold for one credit, which the person behind the bot is
selling for $20. The bot also provide discount, with 10,000 credits selling for
%5,000, as per the Motherboard report.

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The bot has been in action since at least two weeks,
providing access to data of 2019. Though the data is relatively old, but it
is not expected from Facebook to collect phone numbers from people as they made
the transition to two-factor authentication.

For now, Motherboard’s further course of action is not known,
however it is expected that they would get the bot taken down.