Many bots marketed as "Whatsapp phone number finders" operate under significant limitations or employ tactics that don't truly "find" hidden numbers:
Interaction-Based Retrieval: Some bots only reveal a user's phone number if that user has directly interacted with the bot and explicitly shared their contact information (e.g., using a "share contact" button). This isn't "finding" a number; it's receiving voluntarily shared data.
Publicly Visible Numbers: If a user has set their australia whatsapp number data phone number visibility to "Everybody," a bot might be able to retrieve it by accessing the user's public profile. However, this relies entirely on the user's explicit choice to make their number public.
Checking for Account Association: Some tools, like Bellingcat's Whatsapp Phone Number Checker (which isn't a typical "bot" but a command-line tool accessible online), can check if a given phone number is associated with a Whatsapp account and retrieve publicly available information like username and name. a number from a username and still respects privacy settings.
Scams and Misinformation: Unfortunately, many bots claiming to find any Whatsapp phone number are often scams or purveyors of misinformation. They might lure users with false promises, collect personal information themselves, or simply provide no useful results.
Ethical and Legal Considerations:
Attempting to obtain someone's phone number without their consent raises serious ethical and potentially legal concerns. Privacy is a fundamental right, and tools designed to circumvent privacy settings can be misused for harassment, doxxing, or other malicious activities.