What to do if you lose your cellphone

FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Anyone who has lost their cellphone knows the slow and steady sense of dread that hits as they scramble to try and remember where they might have left it.

“If possible, try to borrow a phone so you can call it and see if anyone picks up,” said Jaime Arreola, a member of the community relations unit with the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). “Or you can text it and say ‘hey, if you find my phone, email me so we can meet up and return the phone.’”

Arreola said UCPD has, on numerous occasions, quickly returned cellphones after someone turned it in and the owner called trying to figure out where it is.

Should someone find your phone, the lobby at UCPD headquarters can be used as a meeting place as part of the department’s Safe Zone for exchanging goods.

Some phone manufacturers also allow you to mark your phone as lost. This feature allows users to display their information, or a custom message, on the phone’s screen asking the finder to contact you. Arreola recommends you keep your contact information up to date to use this feature.

You can also report your phone as lost or stolen directly with UCPD. When you do this, providing a serial number to UCPD can expedite the process. Finding your phone’s serial number varies – an iPhone user can follow these instructions, while Android users can follow these instructions.

Apps like Find My Phone for iPhone or Find My Device for Android are also very accurate when it comes to locating a phone.

“If it’s in a park, or you dropped it on the Midway or somewhere like that, you can let us know and we can get it for you,” Arreola said.

Once your phone is found, officers will ask you to unlock it to make sure it’s yours.

The UCPD also recommends contacting your bank and/or credit card companies to freeze any cards you might have stored to your device. You can also erase your phone remotely if needed.

If someone does attempt to steal your phone, the one thing you should never do is try and resist.

“We tell everyone, don’t resist, don’t try to fight, just give up the property,” he said. “It’s not worth getting injured or seriously hurt over a phone.”