Important reason Martin Lewis is telling people to type '*#06#' into their phone 'now'

Martin Lewis has shared why he thinks everyone with a smartphone needs to type in the code *#06# right away.

The Money Saving Expert, 53, appeared on a recent episode of This Morning to discuss how the likes of Apple and Android users can help safeguard their devices.

It comes after reports of an increasing number of mobile phone thefts, with an estimated 78,000 people having experienced 'snatch thefts' of phones or bags in In England and Wales in the year ending March 2024.

This was a 153 per cent increase compared to the year prior, according to the Home Office.

And Lewis said that the two main issues of having your phone stolen are that you'll most likely have to go through insurance, and that thieves 'can access your information'.

"Some of the quick things: make sure your biometrics are set up, your face or fingerprint ID, both on your phone and your banking apps," he said.

"That's very important, not just on one. Make sure it's on the app and the phone."

The financial guru - who has issued recent warnings to car owners and broadband owners - then urged smartphone users to type into your phone *#06# right away.

"Everybody do this now. Type into your phone *#06# and you'll get what looks like a series of barcodes come up," Lewis said.

The codes that show up should be your IMEI numbers, and the MSE founder recommends to screengrab them and email them to yourself because 'that's the ID you'll need if your phone's nicked, so that you can recognise your phone'.

He continued: "Really important, this one, and you'll understand why - turn off your preview notifications so you know when you pay for something and they send you the text code, that comes through.

"That's fine when your phone is unlocked and you're on it, but if you have preview notifications, it will show that code on the lock screen.

"If you turn on preview notifications, it tells you you've got a message, but doesn't include the code.

"So someone nicks your phone, and then they can't see that code - so turn off preview notifications."

His final bit of advice is to look at the settings section of your phone to see what security safeguards are in place if you were to lose your device.

"None of this will stop your phone being nicked but it reduces the risk of you being defrauded," he admitted.

"Everybody who's got a smartphone, if you're Apple, it's Find My device, if you're Android, it's the SmartThings app, then you can locate it. But also you can switch off payments."