🛡️ Theft, scams and AI: protecting your phone in 2026
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Scams have changed: AI-cloned voices, fake delivery texts, booby-trapped QR codes, snatch-and-run thefts to empty bank accounts. Android has added very effective protections… that most people have never turned on.
1. Anti-theft protections (Android 10 and later)
Go to Settings → Google → All services → Theft protection (the path can vary by brand; search for "theft" in Settings):
- Theft Detection Lock: if someone snatches the phone and runs, cycles or drives away, the phone's AI detects the motion and locks the screen immediately.
- Offline Device Lock: if the thief cuts the internet to stop you from locating the phone, the screen locks.
- Remote Lock: from any browser, go to android.com/lock and lock the phone with just your phone number, even without your Google password.
On recent phones (Pixel, Samsung with One UI 7, and others), Identity Check requires your fingerprint or face to change sensitive settings (Google password, turning off Find) when you're away from trusted places like home. A thief who saw your PIN can no longer change everything.
2. Finding a phone: Find Hub
- Turn on Find My Device, renamed Find Hub in 2025, and allow the Find Hub network: other Android devices help locate yours, even offline.
- On a computer: google.com/android/find to ring, lock or erase.
3. Add a PIN to your SIM card
Few people do it, yet it's essential: with your SIM, a thief can receive your SMS verification codes (bank, WhatsApp). Settings → Security → More settings → SIM card lock. Your carrier's default PIN is often 0000 or 1234: change it.
4. Advanced Protection mode (Android 16)
Android 16 introduced Advanced Protection: a single switch that turns on the phone's strictest protections (blocking app installs from outside the Play Store, stronger network protections, scam protection…). It's designed for at-risk people (journalists, officials, public figures), but anyone can turn it on: Settings → Security & privacy → Advanced Protection, if your phone supports it.
5. Scams you absolutely need to know
| Scam | How to spot it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| AI-cloned voice: "Mom, I had an accident, send money" | Urgency, request for money, new number | Hang up and call the person back on their usual number. Agree on a family code word to ask for in these situations |
| Fake parcel or fine text | Strange link, small amount to pay "right now" | Never click: go to the official website yourself |
| Quishing (booby-trapped QR code) | QR code stuck on a parking meter, poster or email | Check the address shown before opening it, and never enter bank details after scanning an unknown QR code |
| Fake bank advisor | Knows your name and asks you to "approve a transaction" | A bank never asks you to approve a transaction to "cancel" it. Hang up and call the number on the back of your card |
| Fake app | "Update" app sent by message or link | Only install apps from the Play Store, and keep Play Protect on |
In Google Messages, turn on scam detection (Settings → Spam & scam protection): it flags suspicious conversations right on the phone.
6. Say goodbye to passwords: passkeys
A passkey replaces your password with your fingerprint or face. It can't be stolen by a fake website (phishing), and there's nothing to remember. Google, WhatsApp, PayPal, Amazon, Microsoft and many others support them: look for "passkey" in your accounts' security settings. On Android, they're saved in Google Password Manager and synced across your devices.
7. Bonus: block ads and malicious sites everywhere
Settings → Network & internet → Private DNS → enter for example dns.adguard-dns.com. Result: many ads and malicious sites blocked in every app, with nothing to install. (If an app or site stops working, switch back to "Automatic".)
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