Data of 1.75 crore Instagram users leaked: Phone number-email being sold on dark web; Most users in India, save your account like this

Personal data of more than 1.75 crore users of social media platform Instagram has been leaked. This information has fallen into the hands of cyber criminals.

According to the report of antivirus software firm Malwarebytes, the leaked data includes things like username, home address, phone number, email address.

The company said that this data is being sold on the dark web and this may increase risks like phishing or account hacking.

Data leaked due to security breach in 2024

Malwarebytes told its customers in an email that the leak was detected during their routine dark web scan. It will be connected to Instagram’s API (Application Programming Interface, which connects apps to each other) in 2024. The company said that cyber criminals can harm users with this data.

According to Malwarebytes, after the data leak, hackers are trying to login to users’ accounts using email.

India may be most affected

According to Statista, Instagram has the highest number of users in India by October 2025 with 48 crore users. Here Facebook and WhatsApp also have more than 50 crore users, which is Meta’s biggest market. The leaked data may also contain information about Indian users, which may increase the risk to Indian users.

How can hackers use this data?

This leak will not be limited to Instagram only. Experts warn that using leaked credentials (login details), hackers can:

Fishing: You can be trapped by sending fake emails or messages.

Account Takeover: Your account can be hijacked.

Credential Stuffing: If you use the same password elsewhere (like Facebook, Netflix or bank), hackers can break in there too.

Keep your Instagram account safe like this?

Meta denies data breach allegations

Meta spokesperson has denied the matter of data breach. They said we fixed an issue that was causing an external party to request that a password reset email be sent to some Instagram users. There has been no data breach in our system and people’s Instagram accounts are safe.