This Android phone tip may save you $THOUSANDS one day!

So picture this - you have an android phone (e.g. android 14 or 15) and you are happily using it in your favourite pub or eating house. You are checking your emails, reading Reddit, playing a game, talking to someone or reading a text message - just the usual stuff.

So, of course, at this precise moment your phone is unlocked simply because you are using it.

You have taken the precaution set up a SIM card PIN however, so that even if someone steals your locked phone and puts your SIM card into their own unlocked phone, they will not be able to steal from you by using your phone number to receive SMS password reset messages or call premium rate numbers. You think you are pretty safe...

But now, all of a sudden, someone snatches your phone out of your hand and since they now have your unlocked phone, they can easily access your SMS messages and emails. This means they can now reset your bank PINs and email passwords which then locks you out of your own accounts and gives them full access instead of you! Google will helpfully fill in any of your passwords! Two factor authentication is not a problem because the second factor is your phone!

Now they can drain all your bank accounts, building society accounts, share and bitcoin accounts, reset PINs and disable fingerprint and face recognition, etc. They can even order lots of stuff on your credit cards from the online stores that you use and get it shipped to a collection point where they can pick up the goods, etc. That's the beauty of one-click shopping for you.

Your world will be in chaos!

But you don't need to panic if you have enabled all the Android security features enabled including Remote Lock.

Remote Lock

What you need to do is to lock your stolen phone as soon as possible, so you quickly borrow a friend's phone (or ask a stranger to use their phone for you) - tell them to go to android.com/lock in their browser, type in your mobile phone number and click Lock Device...

Remember - android.com/lock

Now your phone will be screen locked and because you have set a SIM card PIN and a phone PIN (everyone should do this), the thief cannot use your SIM card to receive SMS messages, etc. or unlock your phone.

So please enable Theft Protection - Remote Lock on your android phone now!

Note that to avoid misuse, only two locks a day by this mechanism are allowed.

Android has other useful theft protection measure which I strongly advise you to also enable (see video). 

Also, check the options on your Authenticator apps - they should always prompt for a PIN/fingerprint before revealing any authentication code (called App lock or Privacy Screen). The default on some Authenticator apps is OFF which is plain stupid!