Greg shares tips for protecting your mobile device against spam in this episode of Ask The Expert. 800 CHAB radio presents Ask the Expert with Greg Marcyniuk of Heritage Insurance located in Moose Jaw.
Here's a full transcript of the episode.
Rob Carnie: So, take a look at your mobile phone. What do you have on there? You've got your email. You've got your banking information, maybe. You've got your Facebook, your Twitter, your Instagram, perhaps you've got Teams, perhaps you've got Zoom, perhaps you've got the TikTok. You've got a whole lot of things going on on your mobile device. And you've got a whole lot of personal information on your mobile device. Do you know how to protect that information? Greg Marcyniuk, Heritage Insurance on Ask The Expert is here to help us out with that today. Thanks for this, Greg.
Greg Marcyniuk: Not a problem, Rob. But, in fact, I just pulled up the statistic this morning on our own website. We have actually 56.8% of our users were utilizing their mobile device to come into our website. So, you want to distinguish spam from legitimate emails, texts, and social medias. And also what do you do if you do receive any spam and how to keep it off your phone? You can report that spam message by shortcode of 7726 or SPAM. And then your cell phone provider will start an investigation. And reporting this spam to 7726 is free. And it doesn't count as data when you're using this. Now, there are different ways to do this with the different types of phones. And again, we will be posting this on our website.
The other thing that you really got to be careful with here is your actual mobile device itself. Treat it like a wallet. It just drives me nuts when people put their iPhone down either at the dining table or out when they're getting gas. In fact, over 7.1 million phones were stolen last year alone in North America. And there's just so much information there. So, if it does get stolen, first and foremost, use a passcode. It just blew me away, Rob, that only 64% of the people use passcodes. And the other thing, use a good passcode, not 1234. And again, never share your passcode with anyone. It's just like your PIN number on your bank card, just do not do it.
As well, you want to be selective with your apps. It's best to go through a trusted app store such as iTunes, Android Market, or Amazon. The other thing that I always do if I'm ever downloading an app is check reviews before downloading any app whatsoever. Don't click on any suspicious links. In fact, people are three times more likely to click on a suspicious link on their cell phone as opposed to on your PC. So, best advice for that, just don't do it.
The other thing, just like your desktop, you want to keep your software up to date. And also keeping this means you've got the latest solutions. Typically, when I am updating software, I usually wait a week or two, make sure all the bugs are out of it. As well, you want to use security applications such as BioWare, malware. And again, keep these up to date. If anything, it's more important to keep those up to date than anything else.
As well, stay off open WiFi network. It's just like leaving your door open when you leave your home when you're on an open WiFi network. The other thing that you want to do is write down your 15-digit serial number. It's called an International Mobile Equipment identity. It's just behind the battery of your phone and it can speed up the process of getting your phone back to you. And again, if you are selling your phone, make sure you take your SIM card out and guard that data, wipe it all out before you send that off to any stranger. A lot of people are doing that now.
So, these are just some tips as to how to keep your mobile phone safe.
Rob: And all those tips can be reviewed online.
Greg: That's correct. Come on down and we'd be more than happy to give you a hard copy as well.
Rob: They take the hassle out of buying insurance guaranteed at Heritage Insurance in downtown Moose Jaw.
(Video transcription by Speechpad)