Your Phone Got Stolen? What Now?
Yeah, it's as bad as you think.
You’re out for a walk. Maybe grabbing a chai or running errands. Next thing you know, someone dashes by and your phone is gone.
The phone you spent 5 months of your savings on is gone in an instant. Now, it's natural to feel remorse for your stolen hardware but what you had on your phone is much more important in many cases.
Your children's memories, your digital wallets, your contacts, everything is gone in an instant. You didn't just lose access to the phone you paid your hard earned money for; you lost access to something more important - your digital identity.
That identifies you around your workplace, your socials and your financial institutions like banks.
In a country like Pakistan, devices like smartphones don't come cheap. When you factor in the buying power of an average consumer it's a meaningful possession for many.
According to a report by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), Karachi witnessed over 44,000 criminal incidents in the first seven months of 2024. Among these, more than 11,000 mobile phones were snatched from citizens. - Source
To add to the expense the government has left no avenue to make owning a phone as expensive as possible for the average person - inconsistent Import taxes and steps like the ridiculous PTA approval to name a few.
Now, you can't control the thief who ran away with your phone but you can do a lot to keep your data and digital identity safe with yourself before such an event happens.
That's why in this article I'm going to share a few approaches you can use to keep your data safe with yourself before you become a victim of phone snatching.
What You Should Do Before Your Phone Gets Stolen
Prevention > Reaction
Look, As things stand there is very little one can do after they lose their phone to a thief. But a lot of what an average consumer can do relates to the events before the phone snatching happens. You need to be proactive about such incidents and if you've just taken a few small steps you'd be better off than a lot of people.
The good thing is that modern phones now come with a lot of features built into them that prevent theft of the hardware and data. Both Android and iOS have good security features built into them that can help the average person around phone theft but you need to have these features configured properly beforehand.
Below I'm sharing a list of the popular strategies and features one can use to prevent theft of their data before they become a victim of phone snatching. After that I'll discuss each of them in more detail.
Google Account and Apple ID
As I discussed earlier, modern smartphones (both Android and iOS) come with a bunch of security and anti-theft features built into them. But in order to access them you must have an online account linked to the phone. If you're using Android it's your Google Account and in-case of iOS you have Apple ID.
Signing into these accounts allows you as the average person to configure automated backups, phone tracking features and lock-down modes that you can trigger remotely in case your phone gets stolen. Newer Android phones and especially newer iPhones come with advanced phone tracking features that I'll discuss in detail later down in the article.
Signing into your Google Account or Apple ID won't only give you access to those anti-theft features but also help you in taking cloud backups of your data across the apps you use. That way you can sync that uploaded data back to your other devices like laptops.
No account = no control after the theft.
Take Your Backups Seriously
It can't be stressed enough but backups are probably the most important thing one can do to ensure they don't lose access to all of what they have in case of their phone being snatched by some guy in the street.
Now you can have backups for things like the photos and videos in your phone's gallery. It could be your WhatsApp chat history. Whatever the case may be, you must have some form of regular backups in place for the stuff you care about.
Now, there could be multiple forms of backups. You can use cloud services like Google Sync or Apple iCloud to automatically sync your data with your linked account. You can also choose to copy your stuff over by manually connecting your phone with your computer through a data cable.
Once can also use a combination of both strategies and use Cloud backups and manual backups in conjunction to each other. That way you have additional redundancy in case something happens to your Google or Apple account.
Generally there is a popular 3-2-1 rule of backups. One can use that for data that's really important. Here's how the 3-2-1 rule goes:
There should be three copies of the same data
Two of those copies should be stored in a different storage media
One of the three copies should be stored somewhere offsite
Now, an average person could tweak this rule to fit their use-case. Let's say I really don't want to lose my gallery pictures and videos. Here's how I'd back them up using the 3-2-1 rule:
I frequently sync my phone gallery with my laptop and copy the gallery contents over
I keep one copy of the data in my laptop's storage and the other to an external hard drive
I create an offsite backup of the gallery data by using Google Photos in case of Android (it'd be iCloud for iOS)
This way you have additional security around your data in case you lose access to one of the things above like the hard drive or your Google account.
Strong Authentication (Strong Pins, Passwords, Biometrics, Face IDs)
You might think that using Strong passwords, Biometric & Face Unlocks are common sense but let me tell you that common sense is not that common. There are still a lot of people who use 1234 as their lock-screen password.
If you want to be someone who does not want to be buried in regret when their phone gets stolen please make it clear for yourself; You have to use stronger authentication methods for sensitive things on your phone. For your lock screen you should configure Biometric or Face Unlock in addition to the pin/pattern lock.
In addition to the lock screen you must have 2FA around sensitive apps like Banking Apps, Gallery or chatting apps like Whatsapp. I prefer to use built-in app-lock to guard my sensitive apps. It gives another layer of security that I appreciate. It's also a good idea to lock your phone settings just in case.
Some people also prefer to lock their sims with a pin lock but setting it up is a bit complicated, not to mention a bit inconvenient for the average user. If you're interested in it, I have linked some resources in the 'Further Learning' section to get you started on setting up Sim locks for your phones be they using the Android or iOS platform.
Tracking Features
Android and iOS phones come with tracking features that allow users to see real-time location of their phones. Once these features are configured with the user's Google Account / Apple ID, they can view in real-time where their phone is.
For iPhones this feature is called 'Find my iPhone' and for Android phones it's called 'Find my Device'. In newer versions of these operating systems you can easily enable these features and tie them to your account.
Once enabled you can use your Google Account / Apple ID on some other device keeping a tab on your phone's current location.
In addition to finding the real-time location of your phone you can also use these features to remotely trigger a data-wipe request which as it sounds would remove all of your data from the phone so the thieves can't access any of it.
Pro Tip: Accessing https://www.icloud.com/find/ and https://www.google.com/android/find/about DOES NOT require 2 step authentication. So don’t worry if you don’t have a place to receive your OTP or view your Authenticator codes.
If your phone gets stolen, grab the nearest safest internet connected device, open an incognito tab, and immediately log in to view your devices location, and lock them down if needed.
Save Your IMEI Number
IMEI is just a number that uniquely identifies a smartphone. IMEI for your phone is usually mentioned on the box your phone comes in but if you don't have it you can use the following steps to recover it:
How to find your IMEI:
Dial *#06# on your phone
Or check under Settings > About Phone (iOS and Android)
Why it matters:
Needed for PTA blocking
Helps police trace stolen phones
Can prevent resale on black markets
Write it down and save it somewhere safe - preferably offline.
If you're having trouble looking up the specific IMEI for your phone you can refer to the detailed articles linked in the 'Further Learning' section for both Android and iOS.
Save Your Authenticator Backup Codes
Let’s say you’ve got two-factor authentication (2FA) turned on for your email, bank, or crypto account. That’s great - it means a thief can’t just log in with your password.
But here’s the problem: most people only store their 2FA in apps like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Authy installed on their phones.
So if that phone gets stolen - and you didn’t save your recovery codes? You’re locked out of your own accounts.
Why This Is a Big Deal:
No recovery codes = no access to your email, bank, or trading apps.
Some platforms (like Binance, Gmail, or Facebook) make it hard - or even impossible - to recover your account without them.
You could lose not just access, but also assets, reputation, or business continuity.
How to Save Authenticator Recovery Codes
When you set up 2FA on any service, it usually gives you backup or recovery codes. Most people skip the “Save These Codes” step. Don’t be that person.
What you should do instead:
Save the backup codes during the setup process.
Store them offline - either printed and kept in a safe place, or saved in a secure, encrypted notes app like Standard Notes or Bitwarden.
Avoid screenshots on your phone unless those images are also backed up and encrypted.
Pro tip: If you're using Authy or Google Authenticator, you can sync 2FA across multiple devices. That adds an extra layer of security in case one gets lost.
What to Do After Your Phone Is Stolen
As I said earlier, after a phone is stolen there's very little one could do especially in a country like ours. But if you have proper backups of your data with you already and have enabled tracking features on your accounts just like I showed you earlier then there are some things you can do to protect your data.
It's sensible to believe that the phone hardware once stolen is gone forever and won't be returned because this is how things are 90% of the time. You can't control the hardware. It's gone but using the following strategies you can make sure that the thieves don't get access to your data which is sometimes more important than what the phone is worth.
Securing Online Accounts & Data
These days banks use your phones as passkeys to authenticate requests. They also use OTPs on your primary phone to authenticate transactions on your behalf. So, the very first thing one should do here is to call their Sim provider and block the sim in the now stolen phone.
Your second logical step should be to give your bank a call to block any transactions that take place through your phone that just got stolen. The goal here is to minimize the risk of damage if the thief somehow finds a way to unlock your phone and tries to make fraud transactions from your bank account.
If you're using the latest versions of your phone's OS and have multi-factor authentication options in place, an average thief can't do much other than selling the phone for parts. In this case at-least your data isn't compromised.
Lastly you should recover any accounts (Email, Drive, Socials, etc) and log them out of the now stolen phone.
Location Tracking & Remote Data Wiping
As I shared earlier, If you have enabled features like Find my Device on your phone you can get a real-time location of it. As an individual you can use them to get an idea of where the phone is at the moment. You can use that data to further enrich your complaint while registering a complaint with the authorities like PTA.
These location tracking features also come with an option to lock down the phone or wipe all data off it. If you're sure that you already have a copy of the data then you can initiate a remote data wipe trigger from your linked account. Both iOS and Android platforms support this feature and if they're able to locate the phone they can instantly erase all of your data from the phone.
PTA IMEI Block
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has a service to block IMEIs that belong to stolen phones. You can send an email at imei@pta.gov.pk to initiate an IMEI block on the phone or call them at. You can also register a complaint online at the address linked here.
What this would do is that if your phone ever gets a cellular connection inside Pakistan, the PTA would immediately block it and have the location where your phone is being operated from. In very rare cases it can get your phone recovered but you shouldn't get your hopes high to be honest.
Police Report
This one at-least in Pakistan is just a convention. It's better for your peace of mind to believe that your phone is just gone and won't ever be coming back but still one can file an FIR report for the stolen phone.
Again it should be clear that the phone won't be coming back in most cases because local thieves break down stolen phones into parts and then those parts get sold off to repair shops. There is a high chance that you won't get anything out of filing an FIR in most cases but sometimes you can be lucky, no?
You’re Not Paranoid. You’re Prepared.
To all those reading this, I hope your phone and your data stays safe with you but If you own a smartphone you have to be careful. You just can't turn a blind eye to the reality of our environment. Every other day you hear about snatching incidents. Some of you might have been a victim of it already. It's just a very common practice now, especially in large cities.
The thing with phone snatching is that you have to be proactive. You don't have a lot of options after someone runs off with your phone. You need to have backups, strong authentication, tracking features already in place in case you fall victim to phone snatching. It can't be stressed but you must have backups of things you feel are important to you.
Having your phone stolen is bad but a thief can do even more damage if they get hold of your data and digital identity. Just imagine someone getting access to your banking app and being able to receive your OTPs, they can drain your bank accounts in a matter of minutes. Having access to your socials, they can cause harm to people close to you.
In the end, please take backups of the stuff that's important to you. Make use of tracking and remote-wipe features that are present in modern smartphones. Use multi-factor authentication especially for sensitive apps.
I hope you got informed about something from reading the article.
If you did, I'd really appreciate your feedback as a comment down below.
Further Learning
Android’s theft protection features keep your device and data safe
Find the serial number, EID or IMEI on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
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