Australian authorities are investigating an incident in which the private phone number of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was published on a US-based website.
According to an Australian Associated Press (AAP) report, the website, which claims to give clients access to 300 million professionals from 30 million companies, says that information is scraped from public internet pages, like LinkedIn.
An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesperson said the agency "is aware the private contact details of some Parliamentarians are available online through overseas businesses".
"The AFP is formally seeking for the Prime Minister's personal contact details to be removed from these sites," the spokesperson said.
"Relevant agencies are undertaking a range of mitigation measures and strategies to address this matter with a range of partners and the businesses who have the information on their sites with regard to all affected parliamentarians," AFP added.
Acting Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed that the government is aware of the information leak and will work to address it.
"We've notified authorities, and that is being worked through. But obviously, there is concern," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
Separately, a personal contact for Donald Trump Jr has also been published on the concerned website. According to the BBC, it is unclear if Donald Trump Jr still uses the number.
Other numbers listed on the website included former US Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton - though it could not be proved as the calls went to no avail or picked up by an audibly confused man, according to the BBC.
(China Daily and BBC)
