Martin Lewis has urged everyone with a mobile phone to dial a five-digit code – and screengrab the result. The money expert issued the advice to his ITV viewers during one of his popular TV show episodes after revealing that phone thefts have soared by 40%, with robbers targeting people’s financial information using their mobiles. He urged people to take action immediately to protect their handsets from being accessible if they are stolen and to reduce the risk of thieves emptying their bank accounts using their phones.
Martin urged people to change key settings on iPhone, Samsung and Google phones to protect them, including text message settings and shared a five-digit code you need to dial. Martin said on his March 11 Martin Lewis Money Show Live episode last year: “Mobile security tips – thefts are up 40% in London but they’re going up right across the country too.
“Now the crucial thing, they’re not just trying to nick your phone, some of them are trying to access your financial data from your phone.
“You have to protect yourselves on this, folks.”
Martin urged people to use remote tracking apps to locate your phone if it’s stolen, such as Find My on Apple and SmartThings on Samsung or Find My Device on Google’s Android, and suspend payments.
You should also enable biometrics – such as fingerprint ID sign-in – on both your phone and your banking apps, Martin said – and email yourself a screenshot after dialling a code.
Martin added: “Now, this one sounds a bit weird. Dial *#06# to get your IMEI image then screengrab and save it.
“That is what you’re gonna need to give to police if your phone is stolen. Screen grab it and assuming you can access your email not just on your phone, I would just email it to yourself so you’ve got a copy somewhere.”
Finally, Martin added that ‘possibly the most important’ tip is to make sure two-factor authentication cannot appear on your lock screen.
He said: “Many people have that appear on their lock screen so when your phone’s locked, the code still appears. You don’t want that. It means if someone gets your phone they can get the code. So what you need to do to stop that is turn off your ‘preview notifications’. It will still tell you you’ve had a message but it won’t tell you your code on your message. Everybody, please do that one. It’s a nightmare if you’ve not done it.”
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live March 11, 2025 episode is still available to watch via ITVX and the new series of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live will return to ITV1 and ITVX on Tuesday, October 13 at 7.15pm.
