A controversial US-based website has sparked widespread concern after publishing the private phone numbers of several prominent individuals, including Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump Jr. The platform, which leverages artificial intelligence to scrape and compile data from various online sources, has listed personal contact details that remain publicly accessible. The BBC, while verifying the authenticity of the numbers, has opted not to disclose the site’s name. The issue was first brought to light by Ette Media, an independent Australian outlet, prompting Prime Minister Albanese’s office to acknowledge the situation and initiate an investigation. Similarly, the office of Australia’s opposition leader, Sussan Ley, whose private number was also exposed, described the incident as ‘obviously concerning’ and has requested the removal of the information. The website, which claims to possess contact details for hundreds of millions of professionals, is reportedly utilized by recruiters and sales representatives. While it remains unclear how the site obtained the data, Australia has recently experienced a series of significant data breaches. Users can access a limited number of contacts for free or subscribe to a paid service for broader access. According to its website, the platform aggregates public information, such as filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and employs AI to gather data from social media networks, web crawlers, and job portals.
Private numbers of Australia PM and Donald Trump Jr publicly listed on website
