Is there anything i can do about stolen phone

[YorkshirePuddingsS]

My son lost his phone, he didnt have a password on it, absolutely stupid i know, someone has found it and is using it. Is there anything i can do as i think my bank details might be on there, uber eats etc apple pay maybe? Anything i can do at all?

I think you can contact the network provider and report it missing so you can lock it? Do you have find my phone or life 360 on it?

No he doesnt have that. We bought it on ebay so its not a new phone

I’d just phone ee or vodaphone or the network provider and tell them it’s lost or stolen and ask them to lock the SIM card - hopefully they can do that.

Wont he just have put his own sim in it?

Phone your bank to stop your cards.

I dont think that works as my old cards still work on uber eats etc is there a way to log that old phone out?

Is it an iPhone? Just log into his Find my Phone and then erase iPhone.

This one - should be his Apple Account details. Then erase it. https://www.icloud.com/find

Yes it is an iphone

Thanks

Yes I’m sure you can do this. I’m sure you can check all the devices where you’re logged in and then log all devices out. I’ve done this with Amazon when I left my account logged in on the TV at the hospital and forgot to log out when I went home. I just went on my account on my phone and logged that TV out.

I don’t understand why your first thought was to post on Mumsnet and not get in touch with the network provider?

She bought it on eBay so it’s not a contract phone. And plus the network provider can’t do anything about her Uber eats account etc..

Because it’s night time and nothing is open? Its also not a contract phone so he would have his own number in i imagine

Contact the network provider. He'll have his phone number and they can block the SIM card and send him out a replacement, which will be on the same plan etc that he had. If he bought the phone from the network provider they'll be able to block that too.

But if he bought the phone from wherever and just put a SIM card in it, then unless he wrote down the IMEI number of the phone itself (not the phone number attached to the SIM) then they'll have no way of knowing what phone it is so won't be able to block it.

It's too late now anyway from a security perspective, someone else has it and has access, you don't know what they've looked at and copied down. At this point blocking it just means the other person can't use the phone any more. You're still going to have to cancel any financial information connected to that phone, change any passwords saved in that phone etc because whoever has it now has access to all that.

The banks and phone network provider will have a 24hr number you can call to get things stopped ASAP.

If things are set to automatically back up to the cloud, you can try logging into that from a pc or laptop (if he knows the login details and they haven't been changed yet by the person who has the phone). Someone I know got their phone back that way because the person who stole it was taking selfies which were being uploaded to the cloud automatically and the phone's owner recognised who it was, so was able to report it to the police with the name of the thief and a pic of them.

Yes he has uploaded pics and videos. It was a second hand phone so network provider wouldnt be able to help.

They can block the SIM. All he needs for that is his phone number. It means nobody can run up a huge phone bill in his name.

The phone company can still block the phone if he has the IMEI, it doesn't matter that he bought it second hand, it matters if he can identify the phone for them to block or not. You can get the IMEI from any phone by dialling *#06# (I think that's it) so find out if he's done this and wrote it down somewhere. If he has he can get the phone blocked.

Lost and stolen is 24/7.

Call the network provider customer services, press the relevant option to report.

Banks - it's sometimes a separate phone number from the usual one for telephone banking, so Google it.

Its not a contract he cant run up a bill. Its a second hand phone from ebay

All SIM cards have a network provider. O2/Vodafone /three etc. So whatever his network provider is for his SIM, that's who he needs to call.

He can Google for the full phone number for customer service for that network provider.

Or he can dial the short code (150 for EE, 2202 for O2, 2345 for Vodafone, I don't know the others) from a friend's phone if they're with that same network as him. Then he gives his phone number to the customer service person to report his phone lost/stolen so they can block the SIM.

Otherwise if he doesn't get the SIM blocked then, if he has a credit card linked to top up that phone, the people who have it can spend as much data/phone calls etc as they want and it'll automatically come off his credit card.

It doesn't matter that it's not "a contract phone". PAYG SIM cards can also be linked to credit or debit cards. Not many people are topping them up with vouchers these days. If he does top-up with a voucher then fine, all they can do is spend whatever allowances and credit is on the SIM card. Then they'll have to top it up themselves to keep it working.

But if he has a credit or debit card linked for top-up they'll be able to spend his money on phone data or calls etc. Or maybe spend buying games or whatever apps through the app store too (I don't know how purchasing apps work with payments, it's not something I've ever done).

I hope you understand that if you have your bank cards saved on that phone OP, the people who have the phone also have your card details now. Meaning they can pay for things from your bank account/credit card.

You need to contact your bank about that ASAP and get your cards blocked.

Or you could wake up tomorrow and find there's no money in your account because the person with the phone has spent it all.

Whilst you get stolen back from the bank, that's only if you report it ASAP. It's also a hassle because you're still without money in the meantime while you wait for that to happen.

The issue with the bank cards is a separate issue to the phone or the SIM card. You need to call your bank tonight.

Oh ok thank you that’s worse than I thought, I will call tonight and get them blocked.

Any more advice on this, its saying he cant report it as lost or stolen as he didnt have find my iphone on? Also contacting the bank was useless because your apple pay updates with the new bank card anyway?! Ive just found that out so he will still have the new bank details.

Kick their arses OP. Raise complaints. You're not after compensation or a replacement phone or making an insurance claim, you accept full responsibility for the loss, but they need to disable the payment option system, whatever that is, so your money can't be stolen. It's a security risk, they must have a system for dealing with that. Not just shrug their shoulders and go "ah well, you're gonna get robbed, tough luck!".

Have you contacted the network provider to get the SIM blocked? Apple aren't the network provider they're the phone provider.

Talk to the bank again too, explain that Apple are being unhelpful and ask for what can be done their end. Maybe you'll end up having to close your bank accounts and open new ones if you can't get any help from Apple, that way Apple doesn't have your card details. If you do this, remember to tell your employer too, so they can update your details for paying you.

Honestly this kind of shit is why nothing is saved to my phone and I still carry cards/cash and log out of everything when I've finished using it. Someone getting hold of my phone can't do more than use up any minutes/text/data allowance. They can't even get into my social media or email, YouTube is the only thing permanently logged in and the email for that isn't used for anything else, no payment cards linked to it or membership or anything else. The worst that happens would be if someone takes over my YouTube channel and I lose my playlists and have to start a new channel, which is no big deal.