Breach date: 2020-08-30. Added to this index: 2022-07-26. Accounts affected: about 3.4M. Domain: paytm.com.
What happened
In August 2020, the Indian payment provider Paytm was reported as having suffered a data breach and subsequent ransom demand, after which the data was circulated publicly. Further investigation into the data concluded that the breach was fabricated and did not originate from Paytm. The impacted data covered 3.4M unique email addresses along with names, phone numbers, genders, dates of birth, income levels and previous purchases.
Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.
What was exposed
Dates of birth: Your full birth date, day, month and year, collected at signup for age checks, identity verification, insurance quotes, birthday offers or government services.
Email addresses: The email address you used to register or log in. It is the most common field in breaches because it doubles as your username on most sites.
Genders: The gender or sex recorded on your profile, usually picked from a list at signup, sometimes with a title such as Mr or Ms or a gender identity option beyond male and female.
Geographic locations: A general location recorded on your account, such as a country, state, city, postcode or region, either typed in by you or estimated from your IP address.
Income levels: An estimated or self-reported household or personal income band, collected by surveys, lenders, retailers, dating apps and marketing databases.
Names: Your first name, surname and sometimes middle name or initials, as you gave them when you signed up. It appears in almost every breach because nearly every account asks for it.
Phone numbers: Your mobile or landline number, collected at signup for contact, delivery updates, marketing and two-factor codes.
Purchases: Records of items or services you bought, often with order numbers, prices, dates, delivery addresses and the store or seller involved.
What to do now
Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
Treat calls and messages that quote real details about you as hostile until you verify them another way.
Frequently asked questions
What data was leaked in the Paytm breach?
The Paytm breach exposed Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, Income levels, Names, Phone numbers, Purchases. About 3.4M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the Paytm breach?
Run the free email breach check with the address you used on that service. It will tell you whether your address appears in this dataset.
What should I do about the Paytm breach?
Treat any message that quotes details from this breach as suspicious, turn on two-factor authentication, and consider removing your details from people-search sites if your address or phone was included.