6 ways to secure all personal DATA if your smartphone is stolen

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A well-documented increase in the number of smartphone thefts in South Africa is no random accident. Criminals are trying to expose your personal data and banking details, and the smartphone is the easiest way to the prize. Nedbank warns South Africans to take special care of their smartphone and other digital devices, as they are seeing an increase in cases of pickpockets, smash-and-grab robbers and bag snatchers …

Moreover, the bank warns that smartphone theft is much more than a big inconvenience in which a victim just replaces his/her old smartphone. “Recent statistics from the Institute of Security Studies reveal a sharp increase in smartphone theft,” reports Daily Investor. The South African Police Service (SAPS) says 189smartphones are reported stolen on average every day! That’s more than one every ten minutes.

WHAT IF YOUR SMARTPHONE IS STOLEN?

So, here’s what you do if you fall prey to smartphone theft:

If your smartphone is stolen or lost, remember to act quickly to limit any potential losses.
Call your bank first to deactivate any banking apps and to remove any digital tokens from e-wallets.
Only then should you report the theft to the SAPS.
Then contact your service provider so they can deactivate your SIM card and blacklist the phone with the IMEI number to make it harder for thieves to resell. This also safeguards your existing phone number and stops the skelms from receiving one-time pins (OTPs) to authorise further purchases. You need a criminal case number from the SAPS for this.
Use tracking technology to try recover your phone. All new Apple and Android smartphones have find-my-device features. Activate this feature and share your phone location with someone you trust implicitly (before it’s stolen, of course).
Change all your passwords as soon as possible. Better still, use a password manager to generate strong, unique passwords in the first place. Biometric locks like fingerprint and facial recognition will also help keep your device safe.