Okay, here we go: I woke up to a scam message on my WhatsApp. I just blocked the number, before starting to wonder how they got my number. And guess what I found out? They got a data breach and didn’t tell their users a singular thing. And when asked about it, they tried to deny it.
(In Portuguese for whoever can/wants to read it): https://itshow.com.br/hacker-vende-dados-clientes-infraestrutura-aws-claro/
So, here I am to ask: What can I do to avoid getting my phone number “less breacheable”? Is there a specific company that supports brazillian phone numbering I should switch to now?
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Anyone can access 3.5B phone numbers on WhatsApp. Meta says this is not a problem and phone numbers are “basic publicly available information”.
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/18/whatsapp-security-flaw-exposed-3-5b-phone-numbers-including-yours/
https://tech.yahoo.com/cybersecurity/articles/3-5b-whatsapp-numbers-were-131821434.html
https://techlore.tech/whatsapp-leaked-3-5-billion-phone-numbers-surveillance-report/
Okay, but they leaked my whole phone number, WhatsApp isn’t my main focus now, I think I’ll gonna have to switch phone number companies.
(btw I can’t abandon whatsapp, my relatives are ignorant ogres who wont download even signal)
Who cares? If it’s spam callers they call every number available anyways.
I wasn’t suggesting they leaked only partial phone numbers?
Doesn’t matter what phone company you have, Whatsapp already has your phone number and they allow anyone to scrape it.
But really there’s so many different ways they can get your #. No way to stop that realistically. I change my phone # every year or so.
But as I said, it isn’t only WhatsApp, my phone operator also happened to have a data leak and keep quiet about it.
My point is changing providers is a fruitless endeavour. Your phone number is probably sourced and sold several times/day. Switch carriers and they’ll do the same thing. Why? Because no one will stop them, and most people don’t know or even care, so why wouldn’t they? And your phone number is already out there anyway, there’s no taking it back.
Sooo, nothing we can do about it?
Yep. And does it matter. I know my numbers out there don’t get many spam calls though. I guess not picking up and doing call screening is effective.
What is call screening? I’m not native, sorry.
Yes and no. You can try and go without a phone number but I’ve found that to be literally impossible. Or you can change your phone # periodically, that’s what I do.
How’s it impossible? Can’t I just, like, afford one of those small fix phones for poeple to call me?
FWIW, scientists recently got all WhatsApp numbers. That could also have been done by anyone else. Don’t know if that has been fixed by now.
(now what does fwiw mean?)
Filled with icky worms
Filled with icky worms.
Or "for what it’s worth", but I like mine better.
Filled with icky worms. Because it’s bad news.
Don’t have a telephone number. Even if you never list it anywhere, a simple “brute force” attack (I.e. simply trying all possible combinations) will still work.
Apart from that, don’t share your phone numbers, which would basically make the number useless.
There is no longer a good way to keep a phone number really private.
I guess this ain’t really a option, Signal and some services (e. g: getting mobile data to use when you’re wifiless) kinda need a phone number.
A google voice number filters out spammers very well, and I hand it out to all the dipshits who ask for my phone number. Set it on mute so they can’t even call you. Use the number to poison data as well.
Only people I care about get my real number.
My provider must do a good job as I barely get spam calls. On another it was more common.
You really recomending Google services on a privacy thread?