Martin Lewis urges all mobile phone users to dial 5-digit code now | Personal Finance | Finance
Martin Lewis urged viewers to dial a 5-digit code (Image: ITVX)
Martin Lewis has urged everyone with a mobile phone to dial a five-digit code now and take a screenshot of the result. The money expert has returned with a brand new series of his hit financial advice programme, The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1, with the first episode shown at a new time of 7.15pm on Tuesday, January 20.
In the show, he gave an update on car finance mis-selling and various money-saving tips for mobile phone users.
The money expert also alerted viewers to the fact that thieves are now targeting people’s financial information using their mobiles, including looking over people’s shoulders to watch them type their password, before taking the phone and getting your data. He urged people to take action immediately to protect their handsets from being accessible if they are stolen and to reduce the risk of thieves emptying their bank accounts using their phones.
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Martin said on the show: “Biometrics to open your phone isn’t enough, you need biometrics to open your phone, so that’s fingerprint or FaceID, AND to open your banking app. It should be on any secure app.”
He added: “When they’re nicking it, sometimes it’s just about the handset, but sometimes they want access to your data or your information too. First of all, beware shoulder surfing. What they do is, you’re in the street and you’re on your phone and putting your PIN code in, they see your PIN code, now I’ve got your PIN code and I’ve got your phone. Now they can access all your data.
“The other thing, sounds obvious, use headphones people. Put your headphones in, have your phone in your pocket, it’s much easier for them to grab, it also means that you won’t be talking on speakerphone and annoying the rest of us.
“I actually sat someone next to a man in a cafe, he was on speakerphone to his bank, he asked for his account balance, they asked for his password, and all of us could hear what he said.
“So look, headphones are a good safety precaution, but be aware about you when you’re crossing the road.”
Martin then urged people to dial a five-digit code in order to protect their phone if it ever gets stolen.
He said: “Dial *#06# to get your IMEI image, then screengrab it and save it. Screengrab that, email it to yourself so you can access it somewhere else.
“What this does is if your phone were to be nicked, you give that to police and they can block your handset.
“The network can block your SIM but this can stop your handset being attached to any other network which makes it much less valuable to sell and hopefully the more of us that do that, the less encouraged the thieves will be.”
Martin also urged people to use remote tracking apps to locate your phone if it’s stolen, such as Find My on Apple and SmartThings on Samsung or Find My Device on Google’s Android, and suspend payments.
Martin added that you should also ensure that your banking PIN isn’t the same as the one for your phone, and to be as careful as you can, adding: “Mobile phone crime in this country is I’m afraid, rife. It isn’t a political point it’s a factual point we need to protect ourselves.”
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live January 20 episode is still available to watch via ITVX.
