What to do if your phone’s stolen

It’s a traumatic day when your cellphone (or should we say ‘lifeline’) is stolen. The loss is just shy of devastating and can leave you feeling helpless. Losing your cellphone to theft is, generally speaking, a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ and because it’s almost a certainty that you’ll experience this loss at least once in your life, we thought we’d help you out with a quick little ‘how to cope’ guide to get you through this rough time.

Settle in, because we’re going to lay out what to do the moment you realise that you’re detached from your device.

The steps to take if your phone’s stolen:

Check before you freak

You’re at a restaurant and can’t find your phone. Some 1 must have taken it, or did they? Yes, you always have it within finger’s reach and always place it on the same spot on the table… But there’s a chance that this time you didn’t. Before you collapse into a wobbly mess for the whole café to see, take a moment to thoroughly check your pockets and bags and then call it. Hopefully you’ll hear it vibrate or ring. The next best thing is hearing someone pick up and tell you that you left it in the bathroom.

Next, use your phone’s finder app

There are so many different types of finder apps available, including Find My iPhone, Google’s Find My Device, or Samsung’s Find My Mobile. Whichever you choose, you’ll need to have set your app up in advance or this step isn’t going to help you at all. Your phone might just be in the bathroom, but if it’s somewhere you haven’t been then it’s probably been stolen.

Now, call your cellphone provider

Ask your service provider to blacklist your phone and get a reference number, not only to make sure that thieves don’t rack up some pretty impressive bills but also for your insurance claim. Blacklisting your phone is also super helpful if you don’t know how to lock and erase your phone remotely.

And then alert the po po

This is now a matter for the police, so go to your nearest police station and file a report. We understand that the po po might not have the resources to investigate this horrendous crime (although your finder app’s last location could help them) but this step is vital. Your bank will need an SAPS case number if your credit card details were used to rack up debt before they reimburse you. You’ll also need this number to lodge a claim with us so that we can get you another phone ASAP!

We should also add right now that the police will need your blacklist reference number, which is why you need to call your service provider first.

It’s time to call the king

You can log your royal claim on our app or our website, either way we’ll need your blacklist reference number and police case number (and a few other details) so that we can race off to get your claim sorted. We’ll either provide you with a similar make and model or a similar, refurbished phone, both of which come with a 12-month warranty, or we’ll give you the exact same 1. It just depends on whether you’ve taken out our like-new bling cellphone insurance policy (which is 20% cheaper than the market average) or our brand-new option.

There’s even a screen-fix only option, so that you can get our ridiculously affordable cover for the cost of fixing up those pesky cracks. The only thing we don’t do is give you a new SIM card, which you’ll have to do yourself.

Lastly… Change your passwords

You might get your phone back. Stranger things have happened. But even with that touching faith in the universe and a PIN lock on your phone, you should still change all your passwords. Especially if any are autosaved on your phone. These are crackable if the thieves are using sophisticated software or just the smudges left on your screen.

If you don’t know what bling cellphone insurance is or how much you could be saving by covering your mobile lifeline with us, then what are you waiting for? Click here right now. Don’t leave it to chance.