Our Analysts Found the ‘fr’ Combolist Circulating on Telegram

HEROIC analysts identified a combolist labeled simply "fr" circulating on a Telegram channel in January 2023. The file paired 1,316,206 email addresses with plaintext passwords and the URLs of the sites those logins belong to, the standard format attackers use to automate login attempts across the web.

Our Analysts Found the 'fr' Combolist Circulating on Telegram

Files like this one rarely stay in one place. They get uploaded to a Telegram channel, copied into other channels, repackaged under new names, and traded on forums long after the original leak. The version HEROIC analysts found was labeled with nothing more than "fr," a common shorthand attackers use for lists tied to French language or region-related accounts, but the credentials inside are fully functional email and plaintext password pairs regardless of the label.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs linking each credential pair to its original login page

Why This Matters

At over 1.3 million records, this combolist is large enough to be run through automated credential stuffing tools that test entries against many websites at once. Anyone whose email and password appear here faces a real risk that a reused password elsewhere gets tried and unlocked. Once an attacker gets into one account, they often use it to reset passwords on other services, turning a single leaked login into a much wider account takeover.

How Combolists Like This One Are Built

Combolists are compiled by merging credentials pulled from older breaches, phishing kits, and malware logs into a single searchable file, then formatted as email:password or email:password:URL so they can be fed straight into automated login tools. They are traded and sold cheaply on Telegram and dark web forums because they let low-skill attackers run large-scale login attempts with almost no technical effort. A file's age does not make it safe. Old combolists still work against anyone who has not changed the password since.

Check If You Are Affected

You do not have to guess whether your information is sitting in a dump like this one. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email address against more than 400 billion leaked records pulled from combolists, stealer logs, and dark web marketplaces. Run a free scan, and if a match turns up, change that password everywhere else you have used it.