A woman who suffered the misfortune of her mobile phone being stolen has shared important tech advice for others, confessing there were several security steps she wishes she’d known before the inlast week. Grania Nesbitt recounted the tale of her mobile phone theft on TikTok, where she detailed in a video how to “make your life easier” should you find yourself in the same boat.
“I want to share what I have learned because I didn’t know a few of these points and if I had it would have made my life a lot easier,” she initiated her advice. Grania highlighted a checklist of actions you should “do today” in case your own mobile phone is stolen or lost – starting with backing up all your data and ensuring two-factor authentication is in place.
“Make sure you know your passwords for everything and you have the FindMy app activated and you’re clued up on the login details for your iCloud account.”, Grania explained. She elaborated, noting that the moment you clock that your device is missing, you should attempt to access the FindMy app as quickly as possible.
“If you’re with someone you trust, use their phone to do it,” Grania suggested, speaking from experience. Regrettably for her, however, the phone’s location hadn’t refreshed, so she could only see its whereabouts from a few hours earlier.
WARNING – explicit language in TikTok video below, viewer discretion advised.
“The thief had turned my phone off,” Grania recounted. “So if you don’t get there quick enough, you can’t set it into ‘lost mode’, which gives you so much more protection.”
Grania pointed out that while most phones are protected by a pin, shops might inadvertently aid thieves if the phone doesn’t display as being in lost mode. “When it’s in lost mode they can tell it’s been stolen,” she remarked.
Due to her delayed reaction, she was left ruing the impact on her dual business operations that she manages from her phone, heightening her anxiety. “I’m a solo mum of two girls trying to run my businesses and that phone had everything I needed on it – all my clients’ contacts, access to my website, emails, WhatsApp and TikTok – I literally couldn’t do anything,” she lamented.
Grania also admitted her ignorance about another crucial aspect of the FindMy app. “When you log in, there are two options,” she clarified. “There’s ‘erase’ and ‘remove’ and I think remove is at the top so you’d think as it’s in that order, you would click that first.”
Yet, this assumption led to further complications for Grania. “What I didn’t realise is when you click remove, it takes off your activation lock so it removes iCloud, but it also takes off the lock and therefore if you aren’t in lost mode, which gave them complete access to my phone,” she elaborated.
Grania found herself in a bind when she couldn’t select the erase option on her phone, saying she dashed to the nearest Three store – her network provider – for help. “To erase, you need a code sent to your phone, which I didn’t have,” she detailed. “I had a three-hour period where I couldn’t do anything – and that is the scariest thing when your phone contains pictures of your kids and all of your bank details.”
Thankfully, a new sim card from Three allowed her to receive the necessary code to wipe her phone clean. By then, the phone’s location was pinpointed at a specific address, which she reported to the police, but it later appeared at a mobile phone shop, leading Grania to suspect it would be dismantled and sold for parts.
In conclusion, she urged everyone to insure their phones, regretting not having done so herself. “I learned the hardest way by not having it,” she admitted.
One TikTok user responded with additional advice, suggesting: “Turn off the ability to access the pull down menu when your phone is unlocked. This might also help in some cases as it can’t have data turned off or be put into airplane mode.”
And Grania expressed her gratitude for the tip, replying: “Thank you for this! I didn’t know this either.”