Smartphone users worried as contact list getting updated with strange number

Smartphone users in India have recently been taking to Twitter to share screenshots of their phone’s contact lists, in which a random number is automatically getting included in it.

Indians were recently seen reporting a strange number being added itself to their contact’s list without their consent, claiming that they didn’t add the contact.

UIDAI contact no. In my contact list ...
How, I was never saved it. pic.twitter.com/u647iTPZWS

— Akshay Gupta (@akshay16111989) August 3, 2018

I didn't save this #UIDAI number and don't know how it is saved in my contact list. @UIDAI any explanation ?? pic.twitter.com/1c1rIfWPP3

— MUGILAN CHANDRAKUMAR (@Mugilan__C) August 3, 2018

Just checked the Contacts list on my phone and found a UIDAI number added there. How did this get there? #UIDAI @UIDAI . Check your phones to see if you've got it too.

— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) August 3, 2018

Just Noticed. Many new mobiles sold in India coming with UIDAI 1947 tollfree number prestored in contacts.Noticed this in Samsung & Micromax .

Is there any govt order for these?
Or is it a result of Govt's arm twisting?

— Anivar Aravind (@anivar) November 12, 2017

As reported by The Verge, the number 1-800-300-1947 is identified to be an old toll-free number for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and has been showing up in contact lists from Android devices. The number showed up on iPhones as well, but only if the owner imported those contacts from an Android device earlier.

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Moreover, UIDAI refused that it had anything to do with forcing the number onto the smartphones. In a statement, the government body said that it ‘has reiterated that it has not asked or advised anyone including any telecom service providers or mobile manufacturers or Android to include [the contact] in the default list of public service numbers’.

Later, security experts and users took to service providers, Indian government and Android demanding answers, while few others even carried out their own tests and experiments to figure out the reason. Moreover, some people asserted that Google is responsible since the number was only seen on Android devices that are ‘Made in India’. Some even believed that the number was forced by service providers such as Vodafone, though it denied the responsibility later on Indian Express.

After almost a day after the number came to notice, Google admitted to putting it on the devices. In a statement to the Economic Times, Google spokesperson acknowledged, “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.”

He representative further added, “We are sorry for any concern that this might have caused, and would like to assure everyone that this is not a situation of an unauthorized access of their Android devices.”