Apr 11, 2014 3 min read

Dear Readers: We can do a lot with our SMARTPHONES these days — access the Internet, social media, email, bank accounts, etc. But there is a lot of personal information stored on your phone — banking, credit cards, etc. — that can make losing your phone really scary, as well as a possible identity threat. Here are some hints to help protect your personal information as much as possible:

n Set a password or swipe pattern on your phone. It takes only a second or two to “unlock” your phone.

n Be careful what you access on your phone. You may want to monitor or check bank accounts and credit-card info on your home computer rather than doing it all on your cellphone.

n If you lose your phone, someone may be able to find out all of your personal information. Think twice before putting all of your financial and personal info on your cellphone.

If you lose your phone, what information is on there? How many times do we just “speed dial” and not really have all of that information in another place? Sounds silly, but stop right now and try to remember a friend’s phone number.

Of course, call the carrier right away so it can shut down the service.

Just like with everything else, try as much as you can to take steps to protect your personal information.

Every roadblock you can throw up is a tiny step that, in the long run, may prevent you from becoming a victim of identity theft. — Heloise

P.S.: While on this subject, can you state right now how many credit cards you have in your wallet? If you had to call and cancel or let the credit-card company know that there might be a problem, can you put your hands on all of the needed information?

SEND A GREAT HINT TO:

Heloise

P.O. Box 795000

San Antonio, TX 78279-5000

Fax: 1-210-HELOISE

Email: Heloise@Heloise.com

TRAVEL HINT

Dear Heloise: When traveling using an e-boarding pass, it often can be cumbersome to turn on my phone, open email, go to the airline website and find the boarding-pass code. What I do before I go to the airport is take a screenshot of the code and set it as the background image of my phone’s lock screen. That way, I can just press one button to display the image without needing to go through a lot of screens. — Laurel in South Bend, Ind.