Have You Had a Device Stolen?

Last Friday, my mothers phone was stolen. We called Verizon and they were able to render it useless so whoever stole it can not make calls. So, my Mom ended up getting a new phone and things turned out fine. Still, if you own a mobile device, you need to keep track of it so you do not get in a situation like my Mom was in. There are two topics you need to worry about when keeping your mobile device safe. One, make sure you keep tabs on your device at all times to prevent theft. Two, know what to do when it is stolen. To help with this issue, I decided to write a top six list for keeping your mobile device safe and getting it back when lost.

If you are in an unfamiliar area with your device, do not set it down for any reason. Either keep it in your pocket or on your belt. This way, there is less of a chance for someone to see the phone and run off with it without you even being aware of the event.
Install tracking software on all of your devices. Websites like iHoundSoftware.com will allow you to install tracking software so you can see were all of your devices go with a few clicks. This is great for your phone, iPod and even a USB drive. Software like this does wonders.
Do not lend the device to anyone. I have herd stories when people ask someone else to borrow there phone then they never see it again. Do not trust anyone. This is the most common way devices got stolen.
Do not leave your device in your car when walking into a store or even your own house. Or at least hide the device inside of your car if you must leave it in there. If someone can spot the device, the will likely go for it.
If your device does happen to get stolen, in this case your phone, with another phone, call your service and get them to render the device useless to the person who stole it can not call anyone and you can really piss them off. That, and keep your phone bill from going off the charts.
If you are unable to install tracking software and your phone is still stolen, see if your service provider can track it down for you.

Well, that is about it. If you have any other tips that you think I should include, then feel free to E-mail me. My E-mail address is Stephen@techy.tk or you can leave a comment.

Tags: steal, stolen, theft, tips

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Comment by Deeessay on May 28, 2009 at 5:31am: @Stephen Hobson

Well, that's easy... I wish the same is true here in the Philippines...

Comment by Lars Bogart on May 27, 2009 at 4:02pm: December, 1982, in the Marines when I was stationed in Iwakuni, Japan. Had just bought an Aiwa portable cassette player (instead of a Sony Walkman which was the main competition at the time) with a nice pair of relatively small portable headphones.

It was a weekend morning, and I was in the rec room playing pool alone, with a few other Marines watching TV. I wanted to go wake up a buddy, and for SOME REASON I took the Aiwa cassette player off my belt and laid it on the edge of the pool table. I left it unattended for 5 minutes, and when I got back, it was GONE. One of my fellow Marines had robbed me !!!

I was devastated. I never bought a replacement for it. I think I paid something like close to $100 for the whole setup, and that was about 1/4 of my monthly take-home pay back then.

My fault in part, but thieves are thieves.

Comment by Frank Schnyder on May 27, 2009 at 12:56pm: It's a balance between trust and effort. There's no reason why you shouldn't take your phone/PDA with you everywhere - it's small enough. If you're by yourself at the airport and you have a bunch of bags - you just have to take them with you to the bathroom. Don't be lazy!

I always remember an article I read somewhere that in the 50's police in Los Angeles cut down on home robberies drastically when they started a media campaign just reminding people to lock their front doors when they went out!

Comment by Fernando on May 27, 2009 at 11:42am: My iPod (5G) with 80 Gigs worth of photos and projects was stolen by two family members. My uncle came over for a visit and brought his two grand-kids (girl & boy). Little did I know that they are thiefs. To make a long story short, my uncle called me a liar, I called the police (didn't do a thing.) At least they left me the earphones; with a single long hair attached to it.

Don't trust anyone! :)

Comment by Jordan Davidson on May 27, 2009 at 4:59am: I had my iPod nano (2nd gen) stolen in November :( I forgot it while I was changing in my schools locker room and by the time I got back (5 min) It was gone. Who tho would want to steal an old 2nd gen iPod!? It was al broken TO!

Comment by Stephen Hobson on May 27, 2009 at 4:41am: Deeessay: Ya, you just call your service provider and they will shut it off for you.

Comment by gavin on May 27, 2009 at 4:34am: i had my phone stolen, but i didn't disable it. i just thought i lost it, and was searching everywhere for it, until i got a 800 dollar phone bill

Comment by Deeessay on May 27, 2009 at 3:00am: I was just wondering... to disable a stolen phone (over there in the States), do you need to have some sort of legal documents to back your claim (i.e. Affidavit of Loss); or you can just give your name, account number, etc to the carrier and they will disable the unit, no further questions asked? Because I lost a couple of phones before and considering that securing such documents cost money, not to mention effort, I never bothered disabling my lost phones.

Comment by Ron Knights on May 26, 2009 at 12:28pm: In that situation, I never would have left my stuff while going out for lunch.

My ex-wife and I used to always quarrel about that kind of stuff.

She never wanted to lock her car, or our house. She said I was too paranoid.

I trust people "In General." But I prefer to lock up my cars, house, etc.

And I don't leave anything behind.

Last month, I went to visit my parents in Georgia.

On the way back, I waited at South Station in Boston, Mass, for a bus to take me to Maine.

I waited about 3 hours...

I met one nice guy who was a former Air Force person. He seemed very nice and trustworthy.

But every time I went to the bathroom, I took all my stuff with me.

When he went, he asked me to watch his stuff.

I wouldn't mess with his stuff...

But I kept my stuff with me at all times.

Comment by Gerard97 on May 26, 2009 at 12:13pm: it is funny you bring this up last friday i was in scotland at a tech conference about like a twitter conference and stuff and we went into the conference room and i set down my PDA my touchscreen phone and my MAC laptop and so did 2 other people and then we all went out to lunch and then 30 min later my friend came up to me and said can i use your laptop because my laptop is out of battery and
i need to send one email and i went back in and everything was gone my MAC laptop my PDA and my touchscreen phone and so was 2 other peoples so we tought someone might have been using the room when we where out to lunch. so we went up to security and they said no one can come here without a pass.
so we went down to the conference room and we had to continue the conference so when we had finished we seen 2 guys leaving and they had all our stuff so we rang the police and they came down and got them they got fined and i got my stuff back.
but it goes to show you you can never be 2 safe where you leave your stuff.