Martin Lewis shares how you can preserve cellular payments down – and would-be thieves at bay

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Your help makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Martin Lewis has shared his newest ideas for the UK’s million of cell phone customers to make sure that they're defending themselves from each unwelcome prices and scrupulous thieves.

The most recent statistics present that thefts instantly from persons are on the rise, growing a large 50 per cent between December 2023 and 2024.

There have been round 483,000 incidents of this sort of theft within the yr, the date from the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) confirmed. Probably the most generally stolen merchandise: cell phones.

On the similar time, thousands and thousands extra folks could also be letting themselves get a dud deal on their cell phone contract. Round 14 million persons are out of contract, Mr Lewis has stated, that means they're probably getting a sub-optimal return on their funds.

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Martin Lewis has shared “crucial factor to verify” when ending a cell phone contract (PA) Sadly, many are unaware that they're on this place, so the very first thing to do is use out. This may be finished by texting ‘INFO’ at no cost to 85075.

Below Ofcom guidelines, your cellular supplier should reply to this textual content with data referring to your contract, together with how a lot it could price to terminate it early. If this quantity is £0, you’re probably out of contract.

The subsequent factor to do is use one of the best deal on the market, though the alternatives on provide can really feel overwhelming.

Mr Lewis’ Cash Saving Knowledgeable web site gives a useful device to search out one of the best deal for you, with choices to filter by quantity of information used, contract size and extra. The cash knowledgeable’s prime picks embody offers from Lebara, iD Cellular, and O2.

That is necessary, particularly for these paying off their units and paying for a cell phone deal in a single contract.

Writing on his weekly publication, Mr Lewis defined: "Individuals are typically shocked by the massive financial savings reported into my TV present on mobiles. But it is typically as they've fallen for a similar catch, and it is one everybody wants concentrate on (verify on susceptible folks you understand, too).

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/06/02/08/02080656-7c6fd2b0-1a21-4cca-9fa5-026aba421c2f.jpg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/06/02/08/02080656-7c6fd2b0-1a21-4cca-9fa5-026aba421c2f.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/06/02/08/02080656-7c6fd2b0-1a21-4cca-9fa5-026aba421c2f.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="The companies first announced the landmark deal in June 2023 (Alamy/PA)" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn"/> open picture in gallery

The businesses first introduced the landmark deal in June 2023 (Alamy/PA) "Many signal as much as an all-in-one deal, the place they get a brand new cellphone and their tariff. No drawback. That'll normally be at a a lot larger price, say £30/mth. But as soon as the contract ends and the handset's price is repaid, some corporations - typically the massive ones - disgracefully do not drop the associated fee. So that you pay the identical quantity every month, despite the fact that the huge bulk of the associated fee was handset compensation. It ought to be banned. It is not.

"So we should self-police. They may all the time ship you an out-of-contract notification. That is crucial factor to verify then."

High tricks to defend towards cellphone theft

When you’ve bought one of the best deal in your machine, the very last thing you need is for it to get stolen. Mr Lewis shares a number of items of recommendation to guard towards this:

Disable preview notifications to stop safety codes from being seen on a locked cellphone, hindering thieves from making unauthorised purchases or altering passwords. Concentrate on 'shoulder browsing,' the place thieves observe PINs earlier than stealing telephones. Dial a fast code – *#06# (star, hash, zero, six, hash) – to save lots of your cellphone's distinctive IMEI quantity, which can be utilized by the community to dam or determine the cellphone if stolen. Arrange 'Discover My Telephone' or related monitoring apps to find your cellular or remotely wipe all information, including a big layer of safety. Allow biometrics (fingerprint or face ID) in your cellphone and banking apps, and activate 'stolen safety' to lock your cellphone or disable options if theft is detected. [ad_2] Source link