Stop that thief! ...Or at least send me a pic and geocodes!

Webnotes by: Theresa Payton, Fortalice, LLC. Content also covered on WBTV's "Protecting Your Cyberturf" segment featuring Theresa Payton and Kristen Miranda.

It’s happened to all of us.  You misplace that phone.  Often it’s just in a weird spot at home or work.  But sometimes it’s really in someone else’s hands.  You can use a location service but often that’s not enough to get your phone back.  But some ingenious app developers have gone a step further to stop would be thieves from running off with phones permanently.  

The good guys are at it again and came up with an idea - what if the phone took a picture of someone trying to unlock the code and emailed the owner with the geographic location and a pictures of the would be thief?  Well that idea is a reality and it’s been helping owners reunite with their phones.  Cyber expert, Theresa Payton, explains how it works and why you just might want an app for that!

The great thing about these apps is they are low cost and if you get an email with a picture of your dog or toddler you will know who the digital thief is.  But what about when it’s not at home or at work and is really lost?

Well, if a do-gooder or even would be thief tries to unlock  your phone, there are apps out there that will:

1.  Take a picture

2.  Grab the geographic location

3.  Send an email to a predetermined email address to notify you

There are not a lot of apps like this out there but you do have a few to choose from. 

WORD OF THE WEEK:

CATFISHING - the technique of hiding behind a photo and persona that is not yours in an attempt to meet people on social media sites.  This was the technique used recently in the internet dating hoax that Manti Te’o was caught up in.  There is even an MTV show called Catfish that seeks to uncover the real people from the fakes in a reality TV show.

Theresa has posted resources for you on the WBTV dot com’s Protecting YOur Cyberturf page.

APPS YOU MAY WANT TO TRY:

iGotYa

Best Phone Security Pro By RV AppStudios LLC

Lookout - By Lookout, Inc.

Norton Anti-Theft

Gotcha Pro Alarm System

Thief Face Trap Mini 

GadgetTrak (also available for Mac laptops!)