Personal finance expert on his ITV show also explained how changing one simple setting was vital
10:03, 21 Jan 2026Updated 12:44, 21 Jan 2026
Martin Lewis made an urgent plea to phone users over simple security changes to implement immediately(Image: ITV)
Martin Lewis has told anyone with a mobile phone to change one key setting immediately. He also explained that people need to send a quick five digit text to protect their phone from thieves.
Mr Lewis said that a few simple measures could stop people having their accounts cleared out. On the Martin Lewis Money Show Live last night viewer Paula asked: “What can I do to stop access to my bank apps if my phone is stolen? I have a strong passcode and biometrics to open my phone. What else can I do?”
Martin replied: “My instant response is biometrics to open your phone isn’t enough. You need biometrics to open your phone which is a fingerprint or face ID and to open your banking app. It should be up on any secure app you should have that too.”
He added that the simple code which you enter in the dialler is *#06# and people should screenshot the image – it can be passed on to the police if anything happens and they will cut your phone off.
Martin gave his main tips for keeping your phone secureBeware shoulder surfing and use headphones. He said: “So you’re in the street and you put your pin code in and they see your pin code and nick your phone. And now I can access all your data.” Put your headphones in, have your phone in your pocket. It’s much easier for people to grab otherwise. It also means you won’t be talking on speaker phone and annoying the rest of us.” Also people should change the settings on their phone to turn off ‘preview notifications’ so codes don’t appear on the lock screen if requested.Dial *#06# to get IMEI image then screengrab it. Mr Lewis said: “What this does is if your phone were to be nicked you give that to the police and they can block your handset. The network can block your SIM, but they can actually stop your handset from being attached to any other network, which makes it much less valuable to see, and the more of us that are there, the less encouraged the thieves will be.” You can enter that code through the dialler.Use remote tracking apps to locate device and suspend payments.Use biometrics not just on phone but on all banking and other important apps. Also he added: “If you use a pin please don’t have the same pin for your banking apps as you do for your phone. If they shoulder surf you they’re getting in to everything.”Check your phone’s extra safety precautions – iPhone has ‘stolen device’. “If it’s in an unfamiliar location it won’t let you change the settings or the password for an hour or so. Or if you want to pay with it, it’ll make you use biometrics first. Android theft protection ‘will automatically lock your phone if a quick movement like someone’s just gone over and grabbed the phone in that way. We have to protect ourselves at the moment.”
On the preview notifications Mr Lewis has said: “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.”
The advice follows recent appeals from MPs on the Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, stating that tech companies are not doing enough to tackle mobile phone theft.
The committee expressed its concern as to why these companies have not taken steps to prevent stolen handsets from connecting to cloud accounts abroad. Mobile phone theft has become a growing issue in recent years, particularly in London where approximately 80,000 handsets were stolen last year, according to Metropolitan Police data.
Many of these devices end up being transported overseas, with the Met alleging earlier in October that one smuggling network had shipped up to 40,000 stolen phones from the UK to China in the past year. Mr Lewis recommended that people should initially 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.”