
The Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is at the centre of a new storm after a revelation that 165 gigabytes of data from Oppo Thailand, including customers’ personal data, was being offered for sale on a dark web site.
The leaked data also includes employee records from the database of the company’s HR department and in-depth operational information from the company’s internal platforms. The seller was asking $20,000 (673,000 baht) for the data, according to the Eagle Eye Centre of the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC).
The revelation is another headache for Oppo, which is already in hot water with Thai regulators over lending apps that came pre-installed on its phones and those of its subsidiary Realme. The companies have taken steps to have the apps uninstalled and they will not be available on any new phones from now on.
The PDPC has instructed Oppo Thailand to investigate the latest data leak, assess the risks and submit a detailed report within 72 hours. The move is aimed at confirming whether a breach occurred and mitigating any potential damage.
If violations of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) are found, legal action will be taken, and the case will be referred to expert committees for further administrative measures, the committee said.
Possefy Group Co Ltd, the local Oppo distributor, on Friday released a statement acknowledging the issue, saying it had reported the breach to the Eagle Eye Centre and the police.
The House Committee on Consumer Protection on Thursday invited representatives of Possefy as well as state agencies dealing with digital issues to discuss the recent controversy over the Fineasy lending app on Oppo phones.
The Fineasy app had been pre-installed with the operating system on Oppo and Realme devices and could not be uninstalled, posing threats to users’ personal data.
The meeting was told that 44 individuals had filed complaints about the app.
It was also learned that loans obtained via the Fineasy app were subject to 40% interest, which is illegal in Thailand, said Kanphong Prayoonsak, deputy chairman of the committee.
Oppo led all smartphone brands in Southeast Asia with a 21% market share of units shipped in the third quarter of 2024, according to data compiled by Canalys. It also led in Thailand with a 24% share, well ahead of Samsung (17%) and Apple (14%).