Personal finance expertr Martin Lewis shared crucial phone security tips which can stop your accounts being emptied
07:28, 14 Mar 2026Updated 07:29, 14 Mar 2026
Martin Lewis has laid out simple measures to stop people having their information stolen if their phone is snatched(Image: ITV)
Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to all iPhone and Android mobile users to make several simple adjustments – or risk facing serious consequences. During his recent appearance on ITV’s This Morning, the money-saving expert explained that failure to set up devices properly could leave people vulnerable if their phone is lost or stolen.
He also advised that everyone should set up a five-digit code. With mobile phone theft increasing, Martin Lewis outlined the straightforward steps everyone should take right now to safeguard their device.
This follows recent appeals from MPs on the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, contending that technology companies aren’t doing enough to tackle mobile phone theft.
The committee raised concerns about why these companies haven’t introduced measures to prevent stolen phones from accessing cloud accounts from abroad.
Mobile phone theft has become a growing issue in recent years, particularly in London where approximately 80,000 devices were stolen last year, according to Metropolitan Police data.
Many devices eventually end up being shipped overseas, with the Met revealing earlier in October that one smuggling ring had sent up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China over the past year.
Mr Lewis recommended that people should first download a specific app. He explained: “Everybody who’s got a smartphone, if you’re Apple, if it’s find my device, if you’re Android, it’s the smart things app, then you can locate it, but also you can switch off payments. It doesn’t stop your phone being sold on, but it reduces the risk, cause let’s be really plain, two risks for your phone being nicked one, you lose it, you have to claim on your insurance and get it back, and two, they can access your information.”
Mr Lewis stressed additional mobile security measures users should activate – particularly for banking applications. He stated: “Make sure your biometrics are set up, your face or fingerprint ID both on your phone. And your banking apps, that’s very important, not just on one, make sure it’s on both.”
He then urged everyone to enter a specific five-digit code into their devices: “Next one, everybody do this now. Type into your phone *#06#. Rachel’s making a note. That’s *#06#. You’ll get it like what looks like a series of barcodes come up, those are your IMEI numbers. Screen grab those, email them to yourself, that’s the ID you’ll need if your phone’s nicked, so that you can recognise your phone, *#06#.”
For the most recent money-saving advice, shopping updates and consumer news, visit the new Everything Money website.
You can enter that code through the dialler.
The expert advised switching off preview notifications: “Next, really important this one, and you’ll understand why, turn off your preview notifications. So you know when you, when you pay for something and they send you the text code, yeah, that comes through. That’s fine when your phone is unlocked and you’re on it, but if you have preview notifications, it will show that code on the lock screen.
“If you turn off preview notifications, it tells you you’ve got a message but doesn’t include the code. So if someone nicks your phone and then. They can’t see that code, so turn off preview notifications, and the final one I’d say is go onto your phone, look at the security settings of your particular phone and go and have a play and see what security settings there are. None of this will stop your phone being nicked, but it reduces the risk of you being defrauded if your phone is nicked. It protects you.”