The Guardian recently ran a story about just how costly mobile theft can become. There are many ways mobile theft can become costly: the lost cost of your stolen device, the cost to replace it (often unsubsidized), the cost of identity theft or fraud if your data is used directly or used against you or others in successful phishing attacks, and, as demonstrated in this article, the costs accumulated on your device before its reported as missing.
These are just the tangible costs, not mentioning any time you spend recovering from the theft, getting a new device, cancelling credit cards, changing passwords… on and on. And if you’re injured? Even more costly, although how can you put a dollar value on that? If you store business information or other confidential information, you also put your company at risk for unauthorized access, fraud, hacking and more.
In 2010 I lost my Nokia contract mobile while on a night out. I should have reported it immediately to T-Mobile but I, foolishly in hindsight, waited two days. During this time somebody found my phone and thought they would be kind enough to use it to call Somalia continuously until T-mobile blocked it. I had no idea this had taken place until, a few weeks later, I phoned T-mobile to discuss my account and was told my bill stood at £2,900.
Did you know you were responsible for charges on your device up until it is reported stolen to your carrier? Most people aren’t aware of their liability post-theft. In the article, the student was threatened with court action over the unpaid bill, managing to reduce the amount – but not eliminate it. Aside from the huge bill still owing, the student faces an even bigger hurdle thanks to a black mark against his credit file that will follow him for many years.
Although The Guardian is pushing for changes to mobile contracts that would prevent such extreme bills from being charged in the first place (just as a credit card may block unusual activity), stories such as this act as a warning. Learn what to do post-theft, and act quickly. Better yet, learn what you can do to prevent mobile theft in the first place.