by Renee' Palmer

Created on: August 26, 2008   Last Updated: September 21, 2008

The loss of your cell phone may only seem like an inconvenience, but in reality, it can be a very dangerous thing. Think about what you have in your cell phone. Most likely, you have all of your family, friends, business associates, as well as many others phone numbers stored inside. Likely, you have pictures of yourself, and your family on it. If you are like some, you may even have your debit card pin number, your social security number, or your credit card number on the phone. How about private text messages with information about personal things in your life? All of these things can be used as a source of identity theft.

Text Messaging is also a dangerous thing when it comes to losing your phone. Perhaps not only your phone was stolen, but your wallet as well. Someone could easily look up your spouses name, and text that person saying "Hey honey, I forgot our pin number for the bank again. Can you text it to me? Thanks!". That quickly the person can have your card and your pin number and head for the ATM.

If your credit card number is stored in your phone, the number can quickly be used for purchasing things online, in store, and through the mail. If you didn't think about this happening, the person could easily rack up thousands of dollars on your name without your knowledge.

Other things in your cell phone can also lead to more theft. For instance, your phone number could be traced back to your name. That in turn could lead to your address, and if you have any information on your cell phone that leads to a key, or a number to get into a locked gate, or your home security, then your security system would be useless.

With pictures of you and your family, he perpetrator could easily pose as you, make a fake ID, and get into many other features of your finances. Many of the usual identity theft occurrences can happen simply because you lost your phone.

The best way to prevent this is to go and look at the information in your phone. Look for any personal information. Try not to use things like "Hubby", "Mom" "Dad", etc as labels for your phone numbers. Simply stating their first name is enough to stop the person from figuring out who they are. Next, go through your memos on your phone. Do you have any personal numbers? Even unlabeled, they can be dangerous, so try to memorize them and delete them from your phone.

Look at your text messages. Any personal information, (whether it is your own or someone else's) should be deleted, and any texts you get in the future should be deleted as well. Any personal identifying pictures on your phone should be deleted, or uploaded to a computer if you want to save them and then deleted.

Don't take a chance on your identity. There should only be ONE you.

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