Protect Your Phone

Protect Your Phone

Phone theft has become a major crime issue and losing your phone is not just inconvenient. It puts your personal data and finances at risk. Here’s a few things that we can do.

Dial *#06#

Dial *#06# to find out your phone’s unique International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) and note it down so that you can give it to your phone company if your phone is stolen and they can block its use.

After the theft, contact your mobile network immediately to give it your IMEI number and get your phone blocked. Report the theft to the police — particularly if you plan to make an insurance claim.

Find My Phone

Your phone will have a Find My Phone feature — turn this on so that you will be able to log in to your phone account from a different device to see where it is being used and to mark it as lost.

Factory Reset

You could also reset the phone so that it goes back to the factory settings, wiping out any personal information so that the thief cannot use it.

Back Up

Ensure that your phone is always properly backed up so that if you lose it you can still access your data, including photos, messages, contacts and apps. Your phone will usually back up automatically when you are connected to the internet, but you can check this in the settings menu. You can also manually back up at any time.

Use Strong Passwords

Use strong passwords and store them in a password manager, which will mean you need to remember only one password that gives you access to all the rest. Do not write passwords down anywhere, especially not in your phone’s Notes app.

WhatsApp/Two Factor Authentication

If you have a WhatsApp messaging account that is linked to your phone number, you can protect it with a PIN in the “account” part of the app settings. Choose a PIN that it is different from your phone passcode. For any other apps, set up two-factor authentication where possible, which will mean you have to verify the account in two ways before you can access it and thus is doubly secure.

Mark As Lost/Stolen

Go online to access your phone account and mark it as lost or stolen. This will lock the phone and mean that you can change the PIN, disable notifications and suspend any cards in your phone’s wallet. You can even add a message and emergency contact that will display on the phone’s screen to show that it has been stolen. Then you should change the password on your phone account.

You could do a factory reset of the device from your online account, which will wipe all its data and remove the phone from your account, but you may not want to do this straight away. Some insurance policies may require you to keep the Find My Phone feature active on the phone until the claim is fully processed.

Disable WhatsApp

You can disable your WhatsApp account online at whatsapp.com, which will stop someone from using WhatsApp on your phone.

Change Passwords

Change the passwords on any apps you held on your phone, including social media or shopping accounts.

If you have used the same or similar passwords for multiple accounts then once one is compromised everything else is at risk.

Protect Bank Account

Once your device is secure it is time to protect your bank account. About 53 per cent of adults use mobile banking, so stealing a phone is a common way for a thief to gain access to your bank account and take your money.

You may be more at risk if you do not use biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition) to access banking apps on your phone.

Call your bank’s fraud helpline to let it know that your phone has been stolen and that your account may be compromised. You can then cancel and replace any debit or credit cards and change your passwords. Your bank can suspend your mobile banking app until you have a new phone.