The mobile phone numbers of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Liberal Party leader Susan Lee and “other prominent Australians” have been leaked online. They were published by a free American website, ABC News writes.
It is unclear how long this information has been available. A spokesperson for Lee said they only learned of the website's existence yesterday after being contacted by the media. NSW Premier Chris Minns, who is also believed to have released the phone number, said he only learned of the incident this morning. Albanese's team was informed of this in September.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government was taking action to address the problem. “We have informed the authorities and the matter is being resolved, but obviously there are concerns,” he said.
The Australian Federal Police is officially calling for the Prime Minister's number to be removed from the list. Authorities are investigating this website.
The ABC has decided not to reveal the name of the website to avoid revealing more personal information about victims, but has confirmed that at least some of the figures are accurate.
According to the ABC publication, the website claims that it uses artificial intelligence to scrape information on social networks, job portals and other websites to gather contact information that companies and professionals can use to their advantage.
