AI chatbots are exposing real people’s phone numbers and other personal details to strangers, prompting fresh concerns about privacy safeguards in generative AI systems.
One case involved a Reddit user who said Google’s AI repeatedly provided his personal number to people searching for businesses and services.
“Strangers are calling me constantly looking for a lawyer, a product designer, a locksmith – you name it,” he wrote, adding that callers often said they “got your number from Google’s AI.” He described the situation as a “massive privacy violation and data leak,” saying his “daily life is being completely disrupted.”
An MIT Technology Review report detailed similar incidents. In March, a software developer in Israel was contacted on WhatsApp after Google’s Gemini chatbot reportedly included his phone number in customer service instructions.
In April, a University of Washington PhD candidate said she was testing Gemini when it exposed a colleague’s personal cell phone number.
A spokesperson for Google told MIT Technology Review the company has safeguards in place to prevent personal information from appearing in AI features and reviews requests for removal.
Still, some users say getting help has been difficult.
“Standard support forms are a complete dead end,” the aforementioned Redditor wrote. “I haven’t received a single response, and the harassment continues daily.”
Researchers say the issue is not limited to Google. Tests cited in multiple reports, including Gizmodo found that chatbots from companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI could sometimes reveal personal contact details when prompted in certain ways.
Privacy experts warned that scammers may exploit the problem by planting fake customer support numbers online so chatbots repeat them back to users seeking assistance.
“AI tools are creating new opportunities for fraudsters to create realistic-looking fake numbers that appear through search results or chatbots, putting people at risk of calling a criminal rather than their trusted provider,” Virgin Media O2’s fraud prevention director Murray Mackenzie said.
The issue comes as scammers are increasingly exploiting AI in other concerning ways. Earlier reports detailed fraudsters using AI voice-cloning tools to impersonate victims’ relatives in scams targeting seniors.
