French Citizens data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the September 2024 breach of French Citizens. For every breach, see Breaches.
The French Citizens data breach exposed 28,445,106 accounts in September 2024. The data taken includes partial credit card data, names, physical addresses and email addresses and 3 more kinds of data.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 20 Dec 2024, 3 months later. It is the 65th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
French Citizens’s breach included 7 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:
| Data | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| Partial credit card data | Not enough to spend, but enough to make a fake call from your bank convincing. |
| Names | Makes scam messages personal enough to believe. |
| Physical addresses | Used to prove who you are, and for scam letters and parcels. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Phone numbers | Expect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM. |
| Device information | Personal details that make scam messages more convincing. |
| IP addresses | Roughly where you were when you used the service. |
What to do
- Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, French Citizens among them, without showing the data.
- Distrust messages that mention French Citizens.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
- Put a PIN on your phone account.Ask your mobile provider for a port-out PIN, so no one can move your number to their SIM.
- Watch your statements.Report anything you don’t recognise to your bank, and ask for a new card if full card numbers leaked.
Timeline
- : the breach, as best it can be dated.
- : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, 3 months later.
Similar breaches
Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:
- Hot Topic, October 2024, 57 million accounts
- Neiman Marcus, April 2024, 31 million accounts
- Otelier, July 2024, 436,855 accounts
- Canadian Tire, October 2025, 38 million accounts
- Eye4Fraud, January 2023, 16 million accounts
- Blooms Today, November 2023, 3.2 million accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
- ^ Troy Hunt. “French Citizens”, Have I Been Pwned, added 20 Dec 2024. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address