Private numbers of Australia PM and Donald Trump Jr made public on US website

Private phone numbers of Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and American president Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., were among several made public on a website.

Numbers of Australian opposition leader Sussan Ley, former prime minister Scott Morrison, and former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop were also listed publicly, prompting a federal investigation.

Albanese's office confirmed they were aware of the situation, while Ley's staff said they had requested the information be removed.

The deputy prime minister said his government was aware of the website, which is based in the U.S., and had taken measures to address the leak of private numbers after the privacy breach was reported by independent media outlet Ette Media Tuesday.

“We are obviously aware of this,” Richard Marles said. “We’ve notified authorities and that is being worked through.

The website, which belongs to a data intelligence company, offers an opt-out form to delete contact details within seven days.

The website claims to use AI to scan social media, job portals and other platforms for contact details. It allows users limited free searches on the database with millions of contacts, with the option to access more through a paid subscription.

However, several numbers on the website are wrongly attributed to powerful world leaders, including India’s Narendra Modi.

LinkedIn may be a key potential source of phone numbers scraped by the website. But the company says there is no indication of any data breach on the platform.

“Our policies are clear that third-party companies taking personal data and using it in ways our members didn’t agree to is prohibited, and these companies aren’t affiliated with LinkedIn,” a spokesperson told The Guardian.

Ley's office said they became aware of the website after being contacted by local media. “We were made aware of this issue when the media contacted us yesterday,” a spokesman for the opposition leader told NewsWire. “This is obviously concerning, and we have reached out to LinkedIn to understand what occurred here. We are waiting for their response."

New South Wales premier Chris Minns, whose number was also listed, quipped that no one was "prank calling" him yet, but he was concerned by the breach.

This is not the first time that private numbers of Australian politicians have been leaked. In 2017, private numbers of hundreds of MPs, senators and staffers were published on the Parliament House website.