There is no doubt that texting has a number of advantages – speed, convenience and visible text are some important features. However, there is one huge issue in that all is fine until the smart phone is lost or stolen.
Let’s look at a real life story. A woman had her purse stolen while shopping. Her purse contained her bank card and her cell phone and the cell phone had “Hubby” listed under “Contacts”. That would be handy whenever she needed to text her husband about something. In the case of her lost purse, she had to quit shopping and subsequently went home. When she got home she called her husband to tell him her purse had been stolen at a store. He was surprised, because he thought she was at the bank. He had received a text from her saying she was at the bank and had forgotten their PIN. He had texted the PIN back to her.
By now you already know what happened! The Thief had texted “Hubby” for the PIN using the phone in the stolen purse and hubby texted the PIN as requested. The couple went directly to the bank, but found the maximum withdrawal had already been made.
Once again, a simple step would reduce the risk of such losses significantly; NEVER exchange such information without first verifying the need with a direct phone call first. In the story we shared here, the husband wouldn’t have provided the PIN because his wife did not confirm the need in a phone call.
You can probably think of many situations where there would be considerable risk to personal information if texting was the only form of communication being used. Please share this tip with others!
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