The private phone numbers of several high-profile figures including Australia’s Prime Minister and Donald Trump Jr have been published on a US website.
Both of their personal contact details remain publicly listed on the site, which uses AI to scrape the internet for information and the BBC has chosen not to name.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office is aware of the situation - which was first reported by independent Australian media outlet Ette Media - and local authorities are investigating.
A spokesman for Australia’s opposition leader Sussan Ley, whose private number was also published, said the matter was “obviously concerning” and they had requested the information be removed.
The site claims to have contact details for hundreds of millions of professionals and is used by recruiters and sales representatives.
The BBC has verified it includes a current private number for Albanese and a personal contact for Donald Trump Jr - though it is unclear if the latter still uses it.
It is also unclear how the site obtained the information, but Australia has suffered a series of large data breaches in recent years.
The BBC also called numbers listed for former US Presidents Barack Obama - to no avail - and Bill Clinton - which was picked up by an audibly confused man. A London landline purportedly for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer rang out.
Users can search the database for a limited number of contacts for free or sign up for a paid service.
According to its website, the site collects public information - including, for example, filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission - but also uses AI to collate data from social media networks, others website crawlers and job portals.
The site also has an opt-out form where people listed can request their personal information be removed from the database.
Source: BBC
- Agencies
