Lost your phone in the crowd? Here's what you need to do 29th March 2022
Smartphones are rapidly becoming an integral and inseparable part of our lives. These devices contain a mini virtual world within them that engrosses us with extensive features and seamless specifications. It has everything from the type of cuisine you like to what skincare serum you last purchased. Your social media account details, bank details, countless passwords, contacts and information are all stored in it.
But, what do you do if you lose your phone? In today's world, losing your phone can have significant consequences. Your details can get leaked or erased. Your money can be stolen if your account gets hacked, or you can lose important information.
The majority of phone lost cases are observed in overcrowded places, and, in some cases, the smartphone users forget their phone at public places like restaurants or shopping malls.
So, what if you have just lost your phone somewhere? Here's what you need to do to minimise the damage.
1. Keep trying your number:
It would be best to text or call your phone. The ringing would help you track it. And if your phone is lost (and not stolen), somebody would be able to answer your call and return your phone upon further communication.
2. Report:
Report the loss of your phone to your cell phone carrier. They can help you determine your phone's current location using your number. This could make it easy to retrieve your phone if it's lost in a vast crowd.
You can also deactivate your sim card to ensure that nobody can make threats and illegal fraud calls from your number.
3. Lock:
Try to lock your phone remotely. This will secure your device and restrict others from accessing your personal information. You'll get notified if someone resets it.
You can try deactivating your device too. In the case of iOS devices, you can activate "Mark as Lost", which disables your phone and send a confirmation mail to your email address.
4. Track:
You can track your phone using the GPS if you have the option active on your phone. In the case of an android device, you can log into your Google account (the one you use on your phone) and track your phone's current location using Google location history. This feature is beneficial sometimes, especially if your phone is nearby.
5. Clean:
To ensure that nobody gets access to your social media accounts and other personal information, try to wipe your phone clean if it goes missing in the crowd and you cannot retrieve it. You can use iCloud or Android device manager to erase your data from your device. Also change the passwords of all your bank accounts, social media handlers etc.
6. Monitor:
Try to monitor the activities of your phone. Keep track of any malicious and suspicious activities performed using your phone or number. Get in touch with authorities (police and phone carriers) and inform them if you find something fishy.
When you lose your phone in a crowd, contact your card companies and ask them to lock your cards and unlink your accounts so that nobody gains access to them.
The loss of your smartphone is worrisome. Insure your valuables to add an extra layer of security in case of unavoidable circumstances. You can purchase online general insurance by browsing through several options and purchasing the one that offers maximum benefits.
Click HERE to know more about how you can purchase online general insurance.
Disclaimer: The information provided above is for illustrative purposes only. To get more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before purchasing a policy.