'We Found Your Phone' Message with a Tracking Link by SMS

How it looks by SMS, the red flags and what to do.

SMS scams lean on short, urgent lines and a shortened link. The message looks official because the sender name (header) is shaped to resemble a real organisation. 'We Found Your Phone' Message with a Tracking Link is one of the ways this shows up: After you lose a phone, a message says it was found and asks you to click a link or pay a fee. The link steals your cloud login or money.

What 'we found your phone' message with a tracking link looks like by SMS

• A request to call a number, install an app or share an OTP.
• Several near-identical messages arriving together from different senders.
• A sender name that resembles a bank, courier, tax or utility, or an ordinary mobile number.

The set-up is timing. Thieves who stole a phone want to remove the owner's lock on it. They may use the number on the lock screen, a message in lost mode, or a phone's SIM to send messages. Others simply watch social posts and chat groups for someone saying they lost a phone and then send a text. The message mimics a real location alert and includes a link to a login page that looks like the maker's own.

Red flags to check on the text message

• A message about your lost phone includes a link and asks for your account login.
• The sign-in page address does not match the maker's official site.
• A code or password is requested to 'confirm ownership'.
• A finder asks for a reward before returning the phone.
• It threatens blocking, arrest, disconnection or a fine unless you act at once.
• It promises a refund, prize or cashback you never asked for.

What to do

1. Use only the official find-my-device feature from your phone maker's website typed by hand, or Safeavio's portal if you set it up.
2. Do not tap links in messages about a found phone.
3. Lock or erase the phone remotely from the official tool, and change your account passwords.
4. Open the official app or type the official website yourself to see if there is any real notice.
5. Paste the text into a scam checker (Safeavio Sentinel can check it) before you do anything else.
6. Report the sender on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility) and block the number.

You can report suspicious SMS and calls on the Sanchar Saathi portal (Chakshu facility) of the Department of Telecommunications.

If money or a code is already gone

1. If money was sent or accounts were accessed, call 1930 and report at cybercrime.gov.in.
2. Call your bank on the number on your card and ask to block cards and UPI on that phone.
3. Change email, cloud and banking passwords from a safe device.
4. Report the loss to the police with the phone's details.

National Cyber Crime Helpline: 1930; report at cybercrime.gov.in.

If you set up Safeavio Sentinel's anti-theft before the loss, the owner's portal at safeavio.com can locate, ring, lock and show a lost-mode message on the phone, and the SIM-change alert and recovery information help. These work only if the phone is on, online and was set up earlier. Link check can test a link from a 'found phone' message. Safeavio cannot stop a thief who switches the phone off.

Full guide: 'We Found Your Phone' Message with a Tracking Link: how it works, signs and what to do. Other channels: WhatsApp, email, phone call.

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