I recently heard of a new kind of cell phone danger, and that is the focus of this public service announcement. Anyone who has a cell phone, please know these can be stolen and used against you in horrid ways.

One woman has changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, and wallet, was stolen. The thief used the stolen cell phone to gain pin number of her bank account quite easily.

Twenty minutes after her handbag was stolen, she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened and he replied, that he had received the text message about a pin number and had replied and sent the number. The husband assumed his forgetful wife needed the pin number so he relied with it, without giving it a second thought.

The couple realizing what had happened rushed to the bank, but it was too late. The bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn from their account.

The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text "hubby" in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within those precious 20 minutes, the thief had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Lesson learned by this couple can help all of us with a cell phone, do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc as a smart thief will text those people for personal information, and if those on your contact list do not realize it they can give away vital personal information to a thief.

People in your cell phone should be listed as first name only, unless there are two people with the same first name and then you would only add a last initial.

For those of us who do get a text message on a cell phone, pleased take note for there is a lesson here for you as well. When sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back the number rather then sending back the requested information. An ounce of prevention is worth its weight in gold here.

When you are being sent a text message on a cell phone by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to vocally confirm that the message came from them.
If you do not reach them, be very careful about going places to meet "family and friends" who text you for it might be a thief who just got a cell phone and is luring you someplace intending to inflict bodily harm.

You need to forward this page to your family and friends who have cell phones so everyone can be safe from cell phone thieves. Thanks to Kevin for alerting me to this new and ever present danger.

Learn more about this author, Amy Browne.
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