Undeniably, Slice is one of the many fintech companies that tout itself as a credit card alternative. Slice, which has been around for quite some time, has come under the scanner after Google started alerting users that the payments app is trying to spy on users’ personal details, including photos, call logs, and more. Slice has now issued an official statement and said it had fixed all issues. The payments app has asked users to update the app to the latest version urgently.
Slice said that it was a technical glitch that led the platform to collect users’ personal details. “We promise you that there has not been any change in our app which would result in the compromise of your data and privacy. This is an isolated case of a technical glitch caused by insufficient information related to the app update on slice UPI, which has since been resolved. We are looking deeper into it to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Slice said in an official statement.
“Our Android update led to a risk message from Play Store. We investigated it and fixed the issue in 4 hours. 1 per cent of app users are still on the previous version. If you’re seeing this issue, we would request you to uninstall and reinstall your app asap,” the payments app noted in one of its tweets.
Google calls Slice harmful
Slice users were reportedly alerted about the same after Google conducted its routine Play Protect scan. During the scan, the Slice payments app was marked as “malicious” as it was trying to steal users’ personal data. Play Protect also sent a notification to users stating “slice puts your device at risk”.
The Play Protect page also noted that Slice is a harmful app that tries to spy on personal data such as messages, photos, audio recordings, and call history. Google further recommended users uninstall the application. Slice has over 10 million installs on the Google Play store alone. It is also available for iOS users on the Apple app store.
Slice has come under the scanner at the time when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred non-banking prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) such as wallets and prepaid cards from loading credit lines on their platforms.
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