Wanelo 2018 Data Breach
ObscureIQ Breach Intelligence
Low SeverityWebsite / service breach
Wanelo Social Shopping Platform Breach (2018): 23 Million User Records Including Passwords & Home Address Exposed
Online shopping discovery platform.
Verified by ObscureIQ Intelligence
19/100Breach Risk Index
10Data Value
10Market Recency
2401dSince Breach
Breach Intelligence Summary
Entity: Wanelo · Actor: GnosticPlayers · Sources: 10 references
Attack: Unknown
Profile: Platform · Social shopping and product discovery · E-commerce marketplace · Global
Timeline: Breach (2018-12-13) · Indexed (Sep 30, 2019) · Year (2018)
Exposure: 23.2M records · 5 fields: Email Address, Full Name, IP Address, Password, Physical Address
Status: Confirmed
Executive Summary
Wanelo, a social shopping platform that let users save and share products from online retailers, suffered a data breach in approximately December 2018. The attacker, GnosticPlayers, claimed responsibility alongside breaches of 44 other companies. The stolen data was listed for sale on dark web marketplaces in April 2019. The breach affected approximately 23.2 million user accounts. The exposed data included email addresses, names, physical home addresses, IP addresses, and passwords stored as MD5 or bcrypt hashes. Home addresses are particularly sensitive in this context, as users would not typically expect a product-discovery platform to carry that level of personal detail. Combined with shopping behavior and saved items, the exposed data can reveal demographic and lifestyle information. Weak MD5 password hashes are especially vulnerable to cracking, meaning many passwords may have been exposed in plaintext by the time the data circulated publicly. Wanelo made no prominent public disclosure and did not notify affected users before ceasing operations around 2019 to 2020. No regulatory action or litigation specific to this breach has been documented. People whose data was exposed face ongoing risks including phishing, account takeover on other services where they reused passwords, and potential physical-world risks tied to the exposure of home addresses.
ObscureIQ assessment: Exposure enables phishing, account takeover, and profiling based on shopping interests and product preferences. Saved-item behavior can also reveal demographic and lifestyle signals.
Breach Impact
In approximately December 2018 Wanelo suffered a breach that was placed for sale on dark web markets in April 2019 alongside a collection of other platform breaches. The exposed dataset contained approximately 23 million unique email addresses alongside names, IP addresses, home addresses, and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes. Wanelo made no prominent public disclosure or user notification before the platform's eventual shutdown. No regulatory action or litigation specific to this breach has been documented.
About Wanelo
Wanelo — an abbreviation of "Want, Need, Love" — was a social shopping discovery platform that allowed users to save and share products from online retailers, functioning as a visual product discovery feed with social features. The platform attracted a largely young, fashion-focused audience and at its peak had tens of millions of users. Wanelo ceased operations around 2019-2020 as the platform was unable to sustain itself against competition from Instagram Shopping and Pinterest.
Why They Hold Your Data
Social shopping platforms collect user accounts, wish lists, browsing and save activity, purchase-intent signals, and social-engagement data tied to product discovery and e-commerce referrals.
Recent Developments
Wanelo no longer operates. The platform shut down and its domains are no longer active as a functional service.
Data Points Exposed
5 verified field types
Email Address
Full Name High
IP Address
Password Critical
Physical Address High
Field names are shown in full for clarity and search visibility. Canonical machine keys are emitted only in this page’s structured data.
Exploitation & Downstream Threats
Threat Activity:Critical
Primary downstream threats:
- Credential stuffing against reused passwords across other platforms
- Targeted phishing campaigns using exposed email addresses
- Doxxing risk from physical address exposure
Threat vectors:
- Phishing, credential stuffing & account takeover
- Name-based social engineering
- Geolocation & account flagging
- Credential stuffing & account takeover
- Physical stalking, mail fraud & identity verification
- Home targeting, stalking & physical threat
Threat Actor: GnosticPlayers
GnosticPlayers
Unknown
Attribution and method are based on available breach intelligence. Reported attack vector: Unknown.
Recommended Actions
If you believe your information may be included:
Change Reused Passwords
Update this account and anywhere you reused the password; use a manager.
Enable MFA Everywhere
Turn on multi-factor authentication on email first, then financial accounts.
Report & Recover
If you spot misuse, start an official recovery plan and report fraud.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the Wanelo breach?▾
Wanelo, a social shopping platform that let users save and share products from online retailers, suffered a data breach in approximately December 2018. The attacker, GnosticPlayers, claimed responsibility alongside breaches of 44 other companies. The stolen data was listed for sale on dark web…
What data was exposed?▾
Verified fields include Email Address, Full Name, IP Address, Password, Physical Address.
What should I do if I was affected?▾
Change reused passwords, enable MFA, and (if identity or financial data is involved) freeze your credit and monitor your accounts.
Sources & References
Every claim on this page is traceable. This breach draws on:
Breach Index
Breach Index
Cross-source
9ghz
Cross-source
BreachForums_Official_Index
Cross-source
DataViper.io
Cross-source
Dehashed
Cross-source
Hashmob
Cross-source
Keeper
Cross-source
leakfind
ObscureIQ Intelligence
ObscureIQ proprietary analysis
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