Dear LPG readers,  

I was listening to the news recently and on the day, yet another story about those people who get on their electric scooters and bikes and relieve pedestrians of their mobile phones before they have the time or presence of mind to do anything about it came to the surface.  

The newscaster was interviewing a celebrity who was young and very fit by comparison to us older people and she described just how quickly it happened to her.  She described the experience of seeing the rear view of your phone extending from the hand of the person that stole it as they disappear from view.      

The person describing her ordeal was young and fit but still talked of her helplessness.  What does that say for us older victims of this crime? We are all told that one answer is not to use your mobile phones in public, but there are so many reasons why we often need to.  

It is generally accepted that older people don’t bother with mobile phones so much but online statistic show that about a quarter of us over 65s use one these days.  They have a bad habit of ringing when you are out and I often find myself standing at a shelf in the supermarket wondering if one of my less mobile friends would like me to buy something they particularly like while I am there. the only way to find out is to give them a call.  There are the times when you are at the bus stop and its display panel is not working just when you want to know how long you are going to have to wait for the next bus.  Not to mention that app that will guide you to that address you have never been to before and cannot find when you just know you are close.    

This got me thinking about what you can do to protect yourself when the thing is not in your pocket and you are not in the house.   I also thought it worth reminding LPG readers of them. 

It is said that prevention is better than cure but there is no point in having the phone if you can’t use it when you need it.  There is lots of advice but two things that stand out for me are so obvious yet so easy to forget when you are busy getting on with your outing.    

It is so easy to be told to always be aware of the people around you but, what does a potential phone snatcher really look like?   The advice not to be near the curb when you take it out but rather to stand with your back to a wall will minimise the opportunity of someone grabbing it from behind and a wrist Lanyard is a good idea because it is the quickness of the ‘snatch’ when you don’t have a good grip on the phone that often allows the snatcher to succeed.  Having it attached to your wrist limits that possibility.  Those straps also often stop a dropped phone from hitting the floor.   It is also really easy to just put your phone on a table at a restaurant or next to the conveyer belt while you put your shopping away.  Getting into the habit of always putting it back in your pocket or bag as soon as you are finished with it is important. if you have become one of those people who like to chat to a friend while taking a walk, a pair of ear buds are advisable because you can tuck it away and chat all at the same time. 

There are a few things that we can do before we even leave the front door.  Know your IMEI number.  I have seen an article about that on LPG’s past pages  (►►►),  and entering your ICE information into your phone can also help with recovering it in more ways than one (►►►). 

We all depend on our phones for nearly everything these days and one of the really important things that we lose apart from the expensive gadget is all the information inside it. I think it is important to keep an old fashioned address book just in case and, while most of us older phone users are less likely to keep their bank details in them, making sure that you have a written version of all the passwords and other details that are in the phone somewhere else is not a bad idea.  I defy anyone to remember all the things that our phones remember for us these days, no matter how young you and your memory are.  

WE all think that it will never happen to us but if it does there are a few things that we need to do as soon as possible.  Firstly, report it to the police and your service provider if it is a contract phone.  Many of the other suggestions look technical but get some help to do them sooner rather than later.   

I don’t have all the answers but we should be aware that it is often thought that such things only happen to other people.  I read that London is the most popular place in Europe for phone theft and while we older people usually have less expensive phones we all know that losing your mobile phone means losing a whole lot more than the bit of electronic kit that you hold in your hand.  

AO, Forest Hill. 

 

AO shares what she has found on the subject…

 

 

 

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