If you are considering selling your mobile phone to another user, then think twice as new research conducted shows that people are unsuspectingly selling their personal information to complete strangers as 54% of used cell phones contain extensive personal data.
The research conducted by CPP Group Plc, a mobile data expert company based in the UK, says 247 pieces of personal data including credit and debit card PIN numbers, bank account details, passwords, phone numbers, company information and log in details to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are carelessly left on a range of mobile phones and SIM cards.
According to CPP, this gives a clear platform for criminals to dupe people by hacking into their personal bank accounts among others using the mobile phone.
“The experiment revealed 247 pieces of personal data that had been carelessly left on a range of mobile phones and SIM cards. The personal data included credit and debit card PIN numbers, bank account details, passwords, phone numbers, company information and log in details to social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn”, CPP Group said in the report which was released on March 22, 2011.
“In research that supported the experiment, half of second-hand mobile owners said they have found personal information from a previous owner on mobile phones and SIM cards they have purchased second-hand” the Group added.
The group indicated that 81% of people claim to have wiped their mobiles before selling them, with six in ten confident they have removed all of their personal information from them. However, CPP said experiment revealed that 54 per cent of mobile phones and SIM cards contained sensitive personal information putting people at unnecessary risk of identity and card fraud.
A mobile data expert at CPP, Danny Harrison said: “This report is a shocking wake up call and shows how mobile phones can inadvertently cause people to be careless with their personal data”
The group is however calling on people to make sure they remove all of their personal and financial information from their mobile phones and undertake adequate security measures before selling them to protect themselves from identity theft.
Mr Jason Hart, Senior Vice President of CRYPTOCard, who was commissioned by CPP to carry out the experiment said: “The safest way to remove all of your data from a mobile phone or SIM card is to totally destroy the SIM and double check to ensure that all content has been removed from your phone before disposal.
Delete back-ups even if your smartphone, PDA or laptop data is securely removed from the mobile device, it can continue to exist on a back up somewhere else, the group says.
By Ekow Quandzie