fication codes, including those from Telegram, allowing them to take over your account, even if you have 2FA (if the 2FA recovery email is also compromised or not set).
Reliance on Carrier Security: This vulnerability highlights that the security of your Telegram account, to some extent, relies on the security practices of your mobile phone carrier, which are often outside of Telegram's direct control.
Phone Number Exposure (due to lax privacy settings):
User Error Risk: If a user leaves their "Who can see my phone number?" privacy setting to "Everybody" or "My Contacts" (and the stranger is in their contacts), their actual phone number can be easily viewed. While this is user-configurable, it's a common oversight.
"People Nearby" Feature: While controllable, the "People Nearby" feature can expose your presence and profile (and potentially your number if settings are weak) to nearby strangers, which can be a privacy concern.
If a user permanently loses access to their registered phone number (e.g., old number deactivated, phone lost without recovery methods, carrier issues) and hasn't set up a recovery email for 2FA, regaining telegram number database access to their Telegram account can become extremely difficult, sometimes leading to permanent loss of the account.
Metadata Collection:
Telegram's Privacy Policy states they may collect metadata like IP addresses, devices used, and history of username changes for safety and security purposes (e.g., spam prevention). While not directly the phone number, this metadata is linked to your phone number-based account. In very specific legal circumstances (e.g., confirmed terrorism investigations), Telegram has stated they might disclose IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities, though not private chat content.