In the event of a theft or loss of a phone, the first concern that comes to mind after assimilating the economic cost is to protect the digital information it contains. This is the function of screen locks or biometric control tools, however, in the event of a seizure of the phone while it is unlocked, there is very little that they can do.
In this context, the applications that remain open are the most vulnerable to information theft by the usurper of the equipment, WhatsApp being one of them due to its permanent communication work. Therefore, the first action to take regarding WhatsApp is to prevent them from communicating with our contacts through it to ask for rewards or try scams. Something common in this kind of situation.
Block the SIM card to reactivate WhatsApp on a new phone
And there are two measures to take: the first one is to contact the customer service of the mobile telephone operator and request to block the telephone line with which the stolen equipment works. And in that same act request the replacement of the chip to reactivate the line in a new equipment. The next step is to start a WhatsApp session on the new computer, since this will close the session open on the stolen computer. It is known that WhatsApp cannot work on two phones simultaneously.
Block WhatsApp by email
The second measure, very useful in the event that the replacement of the chip takes longer than necessary, is to communicate by email with the WhatsApp support service indicating that the referred account is being used by a person who is not the owner and must be blocked. This happens because the blocking of the line does not prevent WhatsApp from continuing to be used with Wi-Fi and it is practically impossible to deactivate WhatsApp from another device that is not verified.
The WhatsApp email address is support@whatsapp.com and in the email you must include the expression “Stolen/lost phone: Please deactivate my account” in the subject of the message. Also, don’t forget to include your phone number in the international format in the body of the message.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay