In 2024 a dataset of roughly 17 million Instagram records surfaced after what appeared to be an exposed third party data broker, built largely from automated scraping rather than a confirmed compromise of Meta’s systems. It contained a broad range of personal data – usernames, emails, phone numbers, profile links and in some cases passwords – making it highly useful for fraud and phishing. The material first circulated on BreachForums in 2024 and was rapidly copied, segmented, and folded into other underground collections.,

, The versions now circulating in 2026 closely resemble that earlier release, even as some media and alerting services such as Have I Been Pwned have referred to them as new, adding to the uncertainty. Many analysts believe the bulk of the data is likely older and being redistributed in modified form, a familiar pattern in breach markets where rebranding can be mistaken for novelty.,