If you lose phone

Rob5342

km1500 said:

macy08 said:

km1500 said:

the main things to do are 

put a PIN on your SIM so that if it is taken out and put in a different phone it cannot be used 

use biometrics on your screen lock rather than a pin or pattern because this means you can't be shoulder surfed 

obviously use a different unique pin for your banking apps although again most banking apps allow biometrics 

as above make sure sensitive notification content (eg otps) is not displayed on your lock screen

have a serious think about if you need to have all those banking apps etc on your mobile maybe just one will do. access the other via mobile that never leaves the house or desktop or whatever if possible. 

the weak point is your email as this cannot be protected by a pin or biometrics - I'm talking about Gmail and outlook here. There may be of course other ones that can be. my recommendation is to turn off 2fa and use a very strong password that cannot be broken. the reason is if you lose your phone for example then you have lost the 2fa device and cannot login to email on your laptop or replacement phone without a lot of hassle

finally when you use the phone to, take photos then open the camera by double pressing the power button or whatever so the phone is not unlocked if anyone grabs it

For reference you can lock Outlook with pin/biometrics which is what I have done.

If your phone is more modern and your network allows you also have the option to get rid of the physical SIM and use an eSIM which is hard coded to your phone - no way for thieves to put it in another phone to get the text messages.

I have been unable to find biometric locking on outlook app could you let me know where I would like to enable it. Thanks

Its not immediately obvious but under settings you tap the "app lock" slider. 

Nasqueron

Android 15 has added a feature where it will automatically lock the phone if it detects a sudden change of motion like a phone being snatched, better than nothing! It also has the feature of secure folder for apps 

VXman

GeoffTF said:

There is a simple answer. Do not store any personal information on your phone and do not use it for banking. If you do use it for banking, keep only a small amount of money in the account (and make sure that money cannot be borrowed from that account). Only use a cheap phone and keep it well hidden away. That all may seem inconvenient, but security and convenience do not go together.

All the comments on this thread seem to suggest very inconvenient and complex ways of protecting.

I have 9 (I think) banking apps on my phone. I use my banking on my phone for the convenience of not having to carry cards around. I have been using online banking for...15 -20 years??. Never had an issue which resulted in losing money.

I lost my phone in Thailand last March. When I'm on holiday I tend to take my cards aswell as my phone but leave them in a wallet in my suitcase or the hotel safe. They are an emergency back up should i lose my phone. The thief would need my finger print or PIN to access the phone and then finger print/access codes to access the banking apps, so a reasonable amount of difficulty unless they were pros. I'd just left my phone somewhere so it was unlikely to be found by someone with those levels of skills.

I just  messaged the phone company asking them to cancel my sim. I then rang all the card companies of the cards on my phone and asked them to cancel my cards. Chase were good as they cancel the debit card and immediately give you a new one in your app (of course I could not access it without a phone.)

I did have a credit card not on my phone so I could have use that but as I was with my wife money was not an issue anyway.

It all went quite smoothly, no fraud or loss of money. Just took a few hours of phone calls/online to sort it out. Bought a new phone on return and loaded the apps back in. New cards had all arrived by then.

gadget88

So if someone gets into your online banking you leave your passports on your notes and they bypass Face ID is your money lost? That’s why i now only keep the cash in the house on a spare phone. I know some say you can get the money back but it’s not 100% is it? 

gadget88

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6epzxdd77o.amp

Any thoughts on this?

gadget88

Seen a few articles on bbc say 

“ Advice to protect against fraud includes taking actions such as removing apps from your phone and keeping them on devices that stay at home”

Seen this too 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy94vz4zd7zo.amp