It has been a nightmare for thousands in India, after a bug in Truecaller app automatically created their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) accounts with ICICI Bank without their consent. This led to panic and hacking fears.
The affected ones, received a message from the bank, which stated that, ‘The registration for their UPI app had started, if that person was not them, they need to report this to the bank. They shouldn’t share their card details or One Time Password (OTP) or CVV with anyone to avoid financial loss.’ The affected users immediately called the bank’s customer care to block their net banking and debit cards.
@TruecallerHelp @Truecaller latest Android version 10.41.6 automatically sends SMS from my SIM to register my UPI Bank A/C to Truecaller pay without my consent the moment I updated to the latest version of the app.
This is quite unacceptable & serious breach of privacy policy.— Raj Kapur (@rajkapur44) July 30, 2019
was truecaller trying to scam its way into getting my UPI details this morning? the app automatically started and said there was a registration error and i got a notification from ICICI
— Nishtha Kanal Revankar (@RootKanal) July 30, 2019
This issue was reported after the users updated the app on their Android. Later, a statement was issued by the Swedish app company.
— Truecaller (@Truecaller) July 31, 2019
Truecaller version number 10.41.6 for Android was released on 24 July, causing the automatic registrations. The company has now stopped the rollout of this version and has published a new version on Google Play Store, with a fix that will reach the users shortly.
Truecaller had tied up with ICICI Bank in 2017, to handle banking and transactional data of the customers. The bank is yet to issue a statement on this matter. As spam and cold calls are a big issue in India, millions of the Indian users regularly use the app to identify unknown callers.
In February this year, the company announced that it has passed 100 million daily active users mark, in the country. While the scope of the current debacle is unclear at the moment, it will certainly hamper the app’s reputation.
