UIDAI Number Is Showing Up Even on New Phones Out of the Box
A number for the UIDAI has started appearing in users’ phonebooks.
UIDAI says this number was decommissioned a long time ago.
It has appeared even on phones with no SIM cards or Wi-Fi connections.
Based on reports of the UIDAI’s now-decommissioned toll-free number suddenly appearing in users’ phonebooks even on devices with no Internet connection and even some with no SIM card inserted.
Paigaam checked different models of different makes and found the number appearing on almost all of them as well as a “Distress Number” entry, under which the national emergency hotline 112 appears. We contacted many mobile phone making companies and are yet to receive any official comment from them. We will keep you updated on this.
Meanwhile, a statement from Google to media read “Our internal review has revealed that in 2014, the then UIDAI helpline number and the 112 distress helpline number were inadvertently coded into the SetUp wizard of the Android release given to OEMs for use in India and has remained there since. Since the numbers get listed on a user’s contact list these get transferred accordingly to the contacts on any new device,”.
The clarification from Google has left many wondering that how vulnerable our data was that a third party could insert numbers without any permission from anyone.
