Tirana’s Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation after a leak of citizens’ fiscal data. Sources from the Prosecutor’s Office said the verifications started immediately after a group of citizens complained about the data breach.

The leaked data of nearly 650,000 citizens, employed in state or private sector, have been circulating through WhatsApp.

This is the second scandal with citizens’ private data leak within months. The first was in March, during the electoral campaign when private data of 910,000 Tirana citizens were leaked to the so-called patrons, a group of Socialist Party militants, containing citizens’ addresses, phone numbers and alleged political affiliations. The data were used by the Socialist patrons to take political advantage through a custom-made campaign.