The first call you need to makeâwhen you find a phone, that is!âis to your wireless carrier. Report your phone missing and have your service canceled, which will prevent someone from racking up service charges on your dime and will prevent the thief from gaining access to your online apps or accounts.
But wait, thereâs more⌠For most of us, our phones contain nearly as much personal info as our wallets, so youâll want to take steps to prevent that information from getting into the wrong hands. The best move is to remotely reset the phone to factory settings. âWiping it means you donât need to worry,â says Neal OâFarrell, executive director of The Identity Theft Council. âThe phone becomes a brick, and the info on it dies.â The problem is, you have to have already enrolled in a wiping program to do this.
Too late? Do a mental run through of apps and websites you use to see where a thief could gain your personal information. (Go through this exercise even if you wiped your device, in case someone accessed the phone between when you had it and when you had it reset.) Immediately change the passwords of these apps and sites, as well as for any email accounts linked to the phone. âYour email holds the keys to your kingdom,â says Eva Velasquez, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center. Receipts, bank statements or monthly bills in your inbox could include credit card, debit card or bank account numbers. Maybe even your Social Security number is buried somewhere in the email abyss.
Have passwords stored on the phone for financial institutions? (Donât, in the future.) Call the banks and close the accounts. Then open new accounts with new numbers. Even if you think your log in was iron-clad, keep an eye on your statements to make sure the account isnât breached.
If you have any credit or debit card numbers saved to your phoneâmaybe at the check out on a retailerâs website or appâcall your card issuer and request a replacement card with a new number. Review your transaction history to make sure there were no fraudulent charges posted.
Going forward, password-protect your phone to add an additional hurdle. (And donât undo the benefit by choosing a PIN thatâs easy to guess like 1234or the current year.) Install a âphone finderâ app, so you can see where your phone isâwhich can prevent a hassle if it was simply misplaced and can also be useful to the police if youâre the victim of a crime. Most important, find out from your phoneâs manufacturer or your wireless carrier how to opt in to a remote wiping program.































