Hacker Claims 820 Million User Records Linked to Alipay Are Up for Sale

A hacker posted a big claim on the dark web. He says he has personal data from 820 million Alipay users. Alipay is one of the biggest digital payment apps in China. If this claim is true, it could put a huge number of people at risk.

Details of the Alleged Listing

The claim showed up on cybercrime forums in late August 2026. A user named “V0idix” posted it on DarkForums on August 29. The post title reads “DATABASE [CHINA] 820 Million Alipay Users Full Database.” That listing is still active on the site right now.

A second post backs up the first one. A user called “mosad” shared it on BreachForums on August 24. The seller says the file is about 5GB in size. He claims it holds users’ names, phone numbers, and gender. The seller also shared a small sample of records. He offered this sample as proof that the data is real.

News of this claim spread fast after that. Threat trackers and security accounts on social media picked up the story. One group, VECERT Radar, listed the alleged leak in a recent alert. The group linked the claim to a threat actor called DataVortex_pro2.

Another group, Kalir Brief, also logged the report. Kalir Brief says it first spotted the claim on August 24. Its notes match the other posts. They mention 820 million records with names and phone numbers, in a file close to 5GB.

Kalir Brief warned that this kind of data could fuel phishing attacks. Criminals could also use it for credential-stuffing attacks. That is when hackers try stolen passwords on many sites at once. These risks would only apply if the records turn out to be real.

Reasons to Treat the Claim with Caution

Nobody has proven that this database is genuine yet. Alipay has not said its systems were hacked. Ant Group, which owns Alipay, has also stayed silent so far. A forum post alone does not prove a company got breached. Sellers on these forums do not always tell the truth about where data comes from.

There is another reason to slow down here. Alipay data has shown up in leaks before. In 2025, Cybernews reported on a different leak. That one held 631GB of data and billions.

The scale of Chinese phone number data circulating on the dark web is staggering. A separate dark web listing from July 2026 claimed to offer a database of 550 million Chinese phone records, including phone numbers, names, regional information, and other personal data. The authenticity, source, and freshness of that dataset have not been independently verified, and it may contain duplicated, aggregated, or previously leaked records rather than evidence of a single new breach.

If this database turns out to be genuine, the fallout could be large. Names, phone numbers, and gender data could help criminals build fake messages. These messages could trick users into clicking bad links or sharing more information.

Criminals could use the data for targeted scams too. A scammer with your real name and phone number sounds more convincing. That makes tricks like fake customer service calls harder to spot. Large user bases like Alipay’s make this kind of leak more worrying. Even a small percentage of fake or reused records could still affect millions of real people.

This story is still developing. Researchers, Alipay, Ant Group, or Chinese authorities may confirm or deny the claim later. Until then, people should watch for updates instead of assuming the worst or the best. Stay alert, and wait for real answers before reacting.