09/09/2013 By
Jeanne Kelly, a contributor to Credit.com You've
enjoyed a great day out – shopping, grabbing a coffee with friends, maybe a
quick stop at the park to walk the dog. But then as you walk into the house,
you have a sudden panicked feeling … where is your cellphone? According
to a recent study by
Lookout Labs, $30 billion worth of cellphones and mobile devices were lost in
2011. That's a lot of hardware that ends up somewhere, possibly in the wrong
hands. Life gets
complicated when you lose your phone or if it's stolen: All of your contacts,
your calendar appointments and many of your photos. It's a central hub of
communication and entertainment in your life. It's
also a central hub of finance in
your life and if your phone was stolen, the thief could do a lot of harm to
your credit score. Here are just a few ways your phone can put your credit at
risk: ·
Your phone contains a lot of identification information that
can be used to impersonate you. That information can be used to then open new
accounts in your name. ·
If you've ever shared your
financial information (such as a credit card number) with a friend via email or
text, it may be available in the communication history or sent folder. ·
Your phone may contain shopping apps that hold your credit
card information on file so you can shop quickly and conveniently again. ·
Your phone may contain banking apps that allow you to
quickly access your bank account to get account balances or to pay bills. While
all of this is convenient, it's also a lot of information about you that could
potentially destroy your credit if someone got hold of it. What
You Can Do ·
Avoid including this information on your cellphone in the
first place. ·
Don’t do your banking on
your cellphone; don't do your shopping on your cellphone. This can be difficult
and sometimes even nearly impossible due to the mobile age we live in, but it
is the easiest solution to keeping your identity safe. ·
Don't store financial information on your phone. ·
Adjust the security settings so that you have to re-enter
your credit card every time you want to make a purchase. (Not all apps allow
you to do this but take advantage of them if they have that option!) ·
Download an app that allows you to locate your lost phone.
And, if necessary, try to get an app that can "wipe" your phone
remotely so that others can't access your information. ·
Put a password on your phone. A good one. ·
Keep the contact information of your credit cards and banks
handy. This way you can contact them and tell them to temporarily disable
access to your account if your phone is missing.
These
aren't all fool-proof methods of security but together they provide a pretty
good layer of protection in case your phone goes missing. |