With so many of us doing our banking and other financial transactions on our cell phones it is not surprising that criminals are turning toward cell phone theft at a way to get at your bank account, credit cards and more.  Recently the Boston Police Department issued a warning about stolen cell phones leading to hacking into the victims’ bank accounts.  One problem is that for convenience sake many people use automatic logins when using their phones for banking or shopping.  This allows a criminal who steals your phone to immediately gain access to those accounts.

Too many people fail to take the necessary steps to protect their phones from being easily used to gain access to their bank accounts and other assets.

TIPS

Here are some of the basic steps we all should take to protect ourselves from this type of crime:

1. Use a PIN to lock your phone whenever you aren’t using it .
2. Don’t use automatic logins that store your user name and password on your phone.
3. If you phone is stolen or lost you should immediatly secure the pohne by enabling “Lost Mode” or remotely wiping out all of your data from your phone. Here is how you do it.

For iPhone (using Find My iPhone):

1. Enable Find My iPhone (must be turned on beforehand):
   • Go to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My iPhone.
   • Make sure Find My iPhone and Send Last Location are enabled.
2. Remotely wipe your iPhone:
   • On a computer or another device, go to iCloud.com and log in with your Apple ID.
   • Click Find iPhone.
   • Select your iPhone from the list of devices.
   • Click Erase iPhone to wipe all data remotely.
   • After wiping, you can also activate Lost Mode to lock the phone and display a custom message.

For Android (using Find My Device):

1. Enable Find My Device (must be turned on beforehand):
   • Go to Settings > Security > Find My Device (or similar).
   • Ensure Find My Device is toggled on.
2. Remotely wipe your Android phone:
   • On a computer or another device, go to Google’s Find My Device and log in with your Google account.
   • Select your device from the list.
   • Click Erase Device to wipe all data remotely.
   • This action will factory reset your phone, and it won’t work if the phone is offline.

4.  Change your dual factor authentication because if a criminal has access to your cell phone, the criminal also would be able to receive text messages send as part of dual factor authentication.

5.  Call your cell phone carrier to have your SIM card for your phone blocked to prevent unauthorized use.

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