Money-saving expert Martin Lewis has shared a tip for anyone who uses a mobile phone
Martin Lewis has advised all mobile phone owners to save and send a screenshot that could prove vital if their device is ever stolen. According to the consumer journalist, everyone should email themselves an important code. MoneySavingExpert (MSE), founded by Martin Lewis, included the tip in this week’s Money Tips Email.
Sharing the advice, the MSE team advised: “Dial a quick code to save your phone’s unique ID number – the police will request this. To access it, dial this quick code, then screen grab your phone’s unique IMEI number – and save it somewhere other than just on your phone! If your phone’s later stolen, the IMEI can be used by the network to block or identify it.”
As the MSE team noted, every mobile phone has an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). You can access it by dialling *#06# on your device, then saving the number that follows IMEI or IMEI1. Martin Lewis previously encouraged people to store the number during a This Morning appearance, instructing phone users: “Everybody do this now.”
During a discussion, Martin outlined measures people can take to minimise their vulnerability to fraud if their handset is stolen. As he clarified, the recommendations won’t prevent criminals from stealing your phone, but they may help safeguard your personal data, reports the Mirror.
Martin said: “Make sure your biometrics are set up, your face or fingerprint ID, both on your phone and your banking apps. That’s very important. He continued: “Next one, everybody do this now.
“Type into your phone, star, hash, 06, hash. You’ll get what looks like a series of barcodes come up. Those are IMEI numbers, screengrab those, email them to yourself. That’s the ID you’ll need if your phone’s nicked so that you can recognise your phone. Next, really important, this one, and you’ll understand why, turn off your preview notifications.”
He explained that online shoppers are often sent text codes when making a purchase. By turning off preview notifications, you prevent a thief from accessing any codes on a locked phone.
The expert added: “The final one I’d say is go look at the security settings of your particular phone and go have a play and see what security settings there are. None of this will stop your phone being nicked, but it reduces the risk of you being defrauded if your phone is nicked.”
Mobile phone networks also provide guidance for customers. For instance, Vodafone says: “An IMEI number is a unique identification number that all phones have. The easiest way to find it is to dial *#06# on your phone – this will show the number on the screen.
“Usually, it’s also on the SIM tray, on the box your device came in and in your device Settings. On Data Dongles or MiFi devices, you can find it under the back cover.”
