by Phone theft continues to be a topic that generates great concern for millions of people who fear being a victim of criminals who carry out their assaults in the streets of the city or on public transport. In fact, the figure of the ‘motothieves’ has gained great strength among the types of robberies reported in Bogotá and other areas of the country.
This modality is based on taking advantage of the carelessness of people who use their smartphone while they are near a road, at that moment the passenger of a motorcycle quickly shaves the equipment from the hands of its owner and quickly disappears from the site with the help of speed and maneuverability offered by a motorcycle.
Despite the fact that the ‘motrothieves’ system is just one of the different tactics that criminals use to steal phones, there are a couple of applications that can protect cell phones against different types of theft In order to prevent criminals from accessing banking information along with other personal data that the user saves in them.
‘Apps’ to keep phone thieves in check
Lookout
This application is a powerful tool to control and protect a phone that has fallen into the hands of other people, because it has the ability to generate an email every time the user’s computer is turned off or a change is made to the card. SIM. Added to it, the service can remotely activate the front camera to take a photo of the thief who has stolen the device.
In this way, the victim of the robbery has a resource to protect their information and obtain evidence to expose the identity of the criminals, in order to use it in a respective complaint.
Added to this, the user has the possibility of generating a backup copy with the data of their contacts and later you can remotely wipe all information stored on your computer.
It should be noted that this platform also has an antivirus, which helps keep the device protected from malicious programs that can steal user information.
find my device
Android device owners can go to the ‘Find My Device’ tool, service created by Google that is associated with the user’s GMail account and thus allows to track the phone.
The platform also allows you to generate a recovery message, which can be seen by the person who may have found the device. It also has an option to make the tphone emits a loud sound, in case the equipment is close to the user.
This tool also takes security actions in case of device theft, so it is possible to lock the smartphone, reset its PIN remotely and erase all its information.
Prey
This platform allows synchronizing a phone with a computer, once the user has created an account on the platform, they only have to associate their smartphone with a PC and in case the cell phone is lost, all they have to do is log in on a computer and use the function to locate the equipment.
The service will never locate the user’s phone unless the user requires it, so there is no risk of the app exposing the privacy of the owner. One advantage of this tool is that it is compatible on Android or iOS devices, and Mac or Windows computers.
How to protect banking apps and WhatsApp chats after phone theft
Generally, cell phone thieves often work with merchants who are dedicated to selling stolen phones that are offered at a lower price than what can be obtained in formal stores.
For this reason, before handing over the equipment, attackers often try to extract the information that is stored on the victim’s device. In fact, the first thing a thief does after stealing a device is to remove the SIM card to try to access user’s whatsapp account and to their bank accounts, through the apps bank officers.
However, there is a method that Allows you to block thieves from accessing your apps bankingto their WhatsApp conversations, along with other applications that the victim has installed on their phone.
To do this, you must enter the settings of the smartphone and from the search bar that is on the screen you should write ‘SIM card lock’, then you must select the option ‘define SIM card lock’.
A new menu will immediately appear on the screen where the user will again have to select the option ‘Define SIM card lock’, then the ‘lock SIM card’ function must be activated. When executing this action on screen A new window will appear where the user will be asked to enter the three-digit PIN that the phone’s SIM has.
In the event that the user ignores said code, he can call the mobile phone company and request that they provide him with the PIN, then he can enter it in the verification box.
After entering the PIN, the user will have to change that code to a three-digit number that only the owner of the device knows. In this way, a user can protect stop criminals from using your SIM card to steal your moneyWhatsApp chats along with other information you may have on your social networks.
It should be noted that in the event that a person loses their smartphone in the middle of a robbery, the first action you should take is to contact the mobile phone company with which have your number and immediately request to block the phone.
Subsequently, you can go to a service center of the brand and purchase a new SIM card that has the same phone number as the device that was stolen.
