Slippery and not much larger than a credit card, it’s an easy thing to lose; and a royal pain, or in the worst case, a costly nightmare when it is lost or stolen.
A friend lost her iPhone somewhere between Omaha and Denver on a cross-country road trip and with it, not only her line of communication with family back home but also her contacts and calendar. It was a big inconvenience but it could have been a lot worse. The wrong person finding it could have not only racked up thousands of dollars in calls and text messages, including international calls, but also gained access to her online banking account.
Lost phones happen every day. And if you live or work in a large city, your odds of having your smart phone stolen are growing quickly; right now, it’s the number one reported theft in San Francisco.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take now to protect yourself if your smart phone is lost or stolen.
WHEN YOU KNOW IT JUST HAS TO BE AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE
If you don’t have another phone to call your phone to listen for its ring, try Skype, Google Voice or fonefindr.com [1] to ping your phone. If you don’t hear it, use another phone to text your lost phone with a message offering a reward for the device.
IF IT’S REALLY LOST OR STOLEN
Smart phones are in huge demand by fencing rings. In Chicago, a woman lost her life when a robber pushed her down the stairs while trying to flee with an iPhone he had stolen from a fellow commuter.
Victims are usually so engrossed in reading their emails or texting, they’re caught completely unaware when it’s grabbed right out of their hands in broad daylight, in front of hundreds of others. And because they’re not paying attention to their surroundings, they’re unable to describe the thief. Often times, it’s two people working together with one grabbing the phone and another driving a get-away car.
“It’s a worldwide problem where iPhones are being taken, resold to fences, which are then resold for a higher price,” Belmont Area detective Gary Yamashiroya told sfappeal [2] “It’s something that police departments across the country are trying to find solutions to.”
When you’re sure your phone is lost or stolen, call your cell phone carrier immediately and ask them to suspend service (i.e. disable messaging and calls) to avoid anyone racking up calls and texts should it fall into the wrong hands.
If your smart phone is from your employer, call your IT department to see if they can wipe your personal information and track its location. If it’s not a corporate-issued smart phone and you’ve installed a security app, use it to wipe all your personal information from your phone (more about these apps below).
PROTECTING YOURSELF NOW
- Download helpful apps
There are many remote security apps that enable you to track your phone as well as remotely wipe it of all personal information. For example, BlackBerry offers the free BlackBerry Protect from BlackBerry App World [3] for remote tracking and wiping. If you have an iPhone, download the free ‘Find My iPhone [4] ‘ app; for Android users, there is the free Prey [5] app. There are also other third party solutions like Mobile Defense [6] and Lookout [7] . - Record your phone’s serial number
Take a note of your phone’s ESN, IMEI or MEID number (often found behind the battery or on the back of an iPhone near the FCC ID). This number will come in handy when reporting a lost or stolen phone to the police or to your cell phone provider. - Password-protect your phone
Most of us have tons of personal data on our smart phones. While a pain to have to log in, you’ll be grateful you password protected your phone if it falls into the wrong hands.
If your phone was stolen and it wasn’t password protected, immediately change the passwords to your online accounts and alert any banks or services that you enabled on your phone. - Back up your smart phone
Regularly (at least weekly) back up your personal data including your contacts, photos, videos, e-mails and text messages to your computer. Even if you’re forced to wipe your cell phone or if it’s lost for good, you can often restore a factory default to the last backup you’ve got, complete with apps, settings and documents.
For a longer list of security apps and what they offer, see about.com [8] .
(Other sources: tuaw, huffingtonpost; photos: the hutch, woohoo megoo) [9] [10] [11] [12]
Posted on 08. Aug, 2011 by Pat in Tech for Moms
Links
- ^ fonefindr.com (www.fonefindr.com)
- ^ sfappeal (sfappeal.com)
- ^ BlackBerry App World (us.blackberry.com)
- ^ Find My iPhone (itunes.apple.com)
- ^ Prey (preyproject.com)
- ^ Mobile Defense (www.mobiledefense.com)
- ^ Lookout (www.mylookout.com)
- ^ about.com (ipod.about.com)
- ^ tuaw (www.tuaw.com)
- ^ huffingtonpost (www.huffingtonpost.com)
- ^ the hutch (www.flickr.com)
- ^ woohoo megoo (www.flickr.com)
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