What To Do When You Lose Your Phone
The most common disease in the new generation is losing things, especially their electronic gadgets, like mobile phones, and the expensive mobile handsets are really painful to lose, not to mention the contact information, photographs, music collection and a whole host of other data that you lose with it. Your phone number is unreachable when you’ve lost your cell phone and you are cut off from your social network till you buy a new one. Well, if you lose your phone, there is no guarantee that you’ll get it back, no matter what you do, but there are some measures you could adopt to maximize your chances of recovering a lost or stolen cell phone.
Information Gathering: It is wise to know the particulars of your handset, after purchasing it and keeping it safely noted down just in case. When your phone gets lost or stolen, you could use them to block or if you are lucky, recover it back. Keep the purchase bill/invoice safely in your cupboard locker along with the packaging and the phone box. Even keeping the phone manual could prove efficient as it contains the complete description of your cell phone. The details you need to note down are-
- Make and model of the mobile
- Company name and phone version
- IMEI /PUC number (The International Mobile Equipment Identity is a 15-digit number to your handset. CDMA phones have an 8-digit Electronic Serial Number).
You can get this by dialing *#06# from any cell phone and note it down. It is unique for each phone and most efficient if you want to track your phone down.
- Your phone number (well, you will obviously remember it)
Deactivate the mobile number to prevent misuse: In today’s world, you just don’t know where your misplaced phone might be used, and may be bad enough to land you in deep trouble. Well, thankfully, you can easily deactivate your phone by giving your information and details to your service provider (for authentication). It is recommended that the number is deactivated immediately after losing your phone, so that the damage is cut short. However, some might want to let their number be in case its lost and someone wants to return it back by calling up the last dialed number or numbers under the entry ‘Home’ or ‘Mom’ or similar, but the risk is very high and chances of such a thing happening is low. You may also want to inform your contacts that your phone is lost in case they try calling it, and also in case they get a call from that person who has taken away your phone, impersonating you.
If you have internet applications like Google mail, Facebook and Twitter on your phone, it is wise to change your account password and security keys to prevent hacking of your social networking and email accounts.
Go to the cops: Informing the police when your cell phone is lost is wise, and even though there is no guarantee that they might actually find it, there is a tiny ray of hope of retrieval of your costly gadget. The police take down the necessary information and details of your cell phone like the make, model, company name, color, your phone number and a few contacts to recognize in case they find it. Make sure you get a signed copy of the report you register at the police station, and keep it safe, just in case.
Get your number back: Well, you lost your phone and when it’s been a while and you know you are not getting it back, why not get the old number back. This could easily be done at the Customer Care Center in your city, by providing the ID proof and a photograph and in some cases a copy of the police complain in case of a stolen phone. You get a new SIM card but the same old number, so that people can at least call or message you again.
Get your data back: You can even get your contacts and certain data back from your network service provider if you’ve registered for that service beforehand. The service providers charge a very nominal fee for storing all your contact details and giving it back to you in case you lose or damage your phone. You could also back up your images and music data online with the help of the apps on your phone.
You may or may not get it back, but at least your information is safe, and the chances of retrieval are greater.
Shahenshah Jaffri
Shahenshah is a computer science engineer who likes to do things differently. He spends most of his time with the love of his life which is his computer, using it mostly for gaming and writing and has a incredible knack for peppering humour into his life.
2 Comments
Leave your reply.