Hacked Facebook accounts are being sold on the dark web, showing the value of such accounts after the social network revealed 50 million of its users had been compromised in a major hack.

Dozens of listings seen by The Independent feature on underground markets on the dark web – a section of the internet only accessible with specialist software – offering buyers personal data of Facebook users for as little as $3.

If exploited by criminals, security experts warn that the data could be used to commit identity theft or blackmail Facebook users with compromising information.