Hacker claims to be selling data of 37.5 crore Airtel users for $50,000, Company denies

Recent unverified reports claim that a hacker has gained access to Airtel India's customer database, comprising details of 37.5 crore users.

The database allegedly contains customers’ mobile numbers, names, dates of birth, father’s names, addresses, email IDs, gender and nationality, Aadhaar numbers, photo ID proof details, and address proof details.

This started when an X account named FalconFeeds.ai shared a screenshot of a forum post in which a hacker—who goes by the alias “xenZen”—was selling the data of 37.5 crore Airtel users on a dark web forum for $50,000 (Rs 41 lakh), to be paid in cryptocurrency. The post was made on BreachForums, where users often buy and sell stolen data.

Reportedly, the breach occurred in June 2024, and the hacker reportedly shared a data sample.

The dark web is a part of the internet that allows people to conceal their identity and location from others and law enforcement agencies. Accordingly, the dark web can be misused to sell stolen personal data at exorbitant sums.

What did Airtel say?

Airtel, however, has denied the claims, saying, “There has been a report alleging that Airtel customer data has been compromised. This is nothing short of a desperate attempt to tarnish Airtel’s reputation by vested interests.”

The telecom major further said that it has conducted a thorough investigation and can confirm that there have been no breaches in its systems.

It is worth noting that a similar incident occurred in 2021 when a cybersecurity researcher flagged that the details of over 2.5 million Airtel subscribers had been uploaded to a threat actor's website, which was taken down only after three months. Airtel denied that any breach had occurred.