Five things you should do to protect your money if your phone is stolen

Brits are gearing up for summer and events like Glastonbury and the Euros are just around the corner.

But criminals are also planning their own summer bonanza, as packed festivals, stadiums and pubs are full of opportunities to steal victims’ phones.

In the past, criminals would steal a phone to sell it for a quick profit, but today they are more interested in using it to gain access to your bank account.

Fraud experts are warning of the shoulder boating scam spreading across the country.

This is where criminals hover behind people in crowded places, such as bars, and watch them enter their phone password.

They then steal the phone and can access the device and any app that has the same passcode.

Here are five expert tips on how you can protect your money if your phone is stolen or your banking details stolen.

1. Activate stolen device protection

Many people who have phones stolen believe that their information will be safe if it is accessed using biometric data, such as their face or fingerprints.

Unfortunately that is not the case. Armed with the phone’s passcode, the thief can usually disable those settings or change the face or fingerprint to their own.

Scam expert Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, recently told This is Money about a New iPhone feature called Stolen Device Protection, which users can opt into.

This means that when the phone is in an unknown location (not at the owner’s home or work), their credit cards can only be accessed using Face ID or Touch ID, and the user will not be able to enter a password as an alternative. ‘ option.

Certain actions such as changing the phone password are also delayed by an hour, giving more time to report it as stolen.

To use stolen device protection, you must have an iPhone running iOS 17.3 or later. Go to Settings > Face ID & Password > Stolen Device Protection.

2. Report it stolen

If your phone contains banking apps or credentials, you should report this to your bank as soon as possible.

Chris Ainsley, Santander’s fraud risk director, explains: “We have specific procedures to follow to help customers in this scenario and protect their data.”

You must also report it as stolen through the phone manufacturer and your network provider, so that the phone can be locked and the phone wiped.

It may be helpful to write down your phone’s serial numbers and IMEI to report the loss. This will help lock the phone and mark it as stolen in case the criminal tries to sell it.

3. Set up multiple user profiles on your phone

Reader Ben emailed us another useful tip that could help Android users hide their banking apps from criminals.

Android phones allow multiple user profiles. This could allow you to “hide” your banking apps in a second version of your home screen that is only used occasionally, reducing the risk of a criminal seeing you open them.

Suggests having a primary user account (e.g. ‘name’) that can be used most of the time and has a passcode or fingerprint unlock. So another user account (e.g. ‘private) could have a different password and your fingerprint, for example.

This way, if your phone is stolen, it is likely the “name” user that logged in and the “name” passcode that was searched.

Thieves are unlikely to notice the second profile where your banking apps are located, and this could buy you some time while you report your phone stolen.

4. Pin your Sim

If a scammer can’t access your phone, they can still access much of your information simply by placing the SIM card in another device.

You can stop them in their tracks by asking them to enter a PIN to access your Sim card.

For iPhone, you can set up a pin on your SIM by going to Settings > Mobile Data > Sims > Sim Pin.

For Android phones, this will be in Settings > Connections > Sim Manager.

Locked – Make it harder for scammers to access your phone by placing a Pin on the Sim

5. Turn off notifications when your phone is locked

When scammers steal a phone, they often have to enter a code sent to them in a text message to approve money transfers or purchases.

That’s why it’s a good idea to set notifications, including text messages, so that they don’t preview when your phone is locked.

This will help if the criminal stole the phone from your hand while it was unlocked and you didn’t write down your password.

Once they allow the phone to be locked, they will not be able to preview text messages sent to their phone.