How To Recover Your Stolen Phone

Losing your mobile phone can be very painful not just for the cost of the phone but other losses associated with it such as your contacts, downloads, apps, and possibly loss of money if the thief gains access to your financial apps.

Many people have complained of their bank account being debited after losing their phone. This is one of the reasons for stealing the phone from you. Those criminals are specialists in stealing phones through various means with the aim of selling the phone after exploiting all the personal data of the owner and using it for their own advantages.

Most of the losses are those of financial loss due to access to the banking details of the phone user. Though the loss of a phone has become a daily occurrence, there is actually no available technology that can guarantee a hundred percent of recovery when the phone goes missing.

How Phone Thieves Gain Access To Victims Phones Despite security locks

If you wondering how your information can be accessed despite locking your phone you need to read this. It is very important to lock your phone, this implies putting some security measures on your phone because it helps to shield your vital information away from thieves in the case that the phone goes into the wrong hand.

However, having the security lock in place does not give a total guarantee of your information. Some of these thieves work with ICT experts that help them in gaining access to locked phones.

There are two options available for the thief if your phone is locked. When the thief finds out that the phone has locked these approaches can be employed:

1. Sim card and Memory Card Removal and transfer
   This involves removal of the phone SIM Card and memory card putting them in an unlocked phone to gather information from it. This can be very possible if the user stored the vital information in the external memory of the phone as well as the Sim acrd. However, in a situation where the phone internal memory was used for such informa5tion, the thief has no other option than the number two.
2. Phone Flashing/Formatting
   The quickest way thieves can access your phone when locked properly with screen security lock and all the vital information are stored in the phone internal memory is to flash the phone. Phone flashing is a processing of formatting the phone by rooting it through a software approach thereby erasing all the available data in the phone including its security locks.
   This is the only option available for anyone who steals your phone that is properly secured. It offers many advantages because the thief will not have to steal your information because it will be erased the moment the phone is flashed.

How You Can Recover Your Stolen Phone

Obviously, there is no guarantee currently for a hundred percent assurance of phone recovery after loss. But there are a few ways you can make effort to recover your stolen. I will be highlighting them in this post.
Below are ways you can make the effort in recovering your stolen phone:

1. Report the loss of the phone to the police with the manufacturer’s casing of the phone or vital information of the phone such as the imei number and other information that the police will require from you.
2. Use Software Tracker. You can use a software tracker such as ‘Google Find My Device’ and any/or any other pre-installed app in the phone to track the location of the phone. Note that this can only be possible if the phone has not been flashed and you were able to setup those software in the phone before the phone got lost.
3. Get the local authorities informed. This option has actually worked in many cases depending on the area your phone was stolen. Some of the local authorities know the thieves within the area and can you the old information in their disposal to trck the potential thief.
   The above three ways can be the only option available for you right now if you lost your phone. The reason is that android nor has any other phone software been able to develop a total assurance security measure that will help stolen phone to be recovered easily. To achieve such level of security, the phone should be able to retain major security data and setups even after being flashed.

Ways Phone can be stolen

1. Lost but found: This simply means the owner misplaced the phone and someone else found the phone and decided to steal it.
2. Snatching: Most victims of this are young girls using expensive phones. A nearby thief quickly takes note of their expensive phone and target the victim until a proper opportunity comes, then the phone will be snatched with force and afterwards the thief will run away with great speed.
3. Pocket-picking: This is the most common way of loosing phones and usually takes place in public places, public transportations, and social gatherings. The thief simply targets the victim’s pocket containing the phone and pull out the phone from the pocket without the knowledge of the victim.
4. Robbery: this can happen in mass robbery or alongside normal robbery. Arm robbers will take anything found valuable from the hand of the victim. So if the victim is found with expensive phone it will be taken away alongside with other valuables.

Things You Must Do To Avoid Losing Your Phone

1. Always hold your phone in your hand while in public places. If it seems impossible for you, then put it in a pocket that has button lock and remain conscious.
2. Understand the area you are at any given time and avoid going out with expensive Smartphone once it is dark. If it is mandatory to go out with the phone then you must not bring it out in the public in lonely unsecured locations in the night.
3. When seating in a public transportation hold your phone in your hand.
4. Be always conscious of any suspicious moves in public transportations.
   Conclusion
   You are reading this post probably because you have lost your phone or looking for ways you can avoid losing your phone. Whichever reason, I believe the best ways currently available have been provided in this post as advice. You can give us your feedback via the comment section.