Phone Stolen? How to Report It and Block the IMEI (Worldwide)

The first hour after a phone is stolen matters more than any other. Thieves move fast: they switch the phone to airplane mode, pull the SIM, and try to get into your accounts or resell the handset before you react. If you act in the right order, you can protect your money and data and make the phone far less valuable to whoever has it.

Here’s the exact sequence, from locking the device to getting its IMEI blocked on mobile networks — for iPhone and Android, wherever you live.

Step 1: Lock the phone remotely (do this first)

Use another phone, a tablet or a computer. Don’t wait to see if it turns up.

iPhone

1. Go to icloud.com/find or open the Find My app on another Apple device.
2. Select your iPhone and choose Mark As Lost (Lost Mode). It locks the phone, suspends Apple Pay cards and shows a message with a contact number on the lock screen.
3. Only use Erase This Device if you’re sure you won’t get it back or your data is at serious risk.

Android

1. Go to google.com/android/find and sign in with the Google account on the phone.
2. Choose Secure device to lock it and show a message. Use Factory reset device only as a last resort.
3. Samsung owners can also use smartfind.samsung.com (Samsung Find) to lock, track or back up the phone.

Factory Reset Protection keeps your Google account linked after a remote erase, so the thief still can’t set the phone up without your password.

Step 2: Protect your SIM, money and accounts

Your phone number is often a bigger target than the handset, because it receives the one-time codes for banking and email.

• Call your carrier and ask them to suspend the line. Get a replacement SIM or eSIM for your number.
• Call your bank and mobile money providers. Freeze cards and banking apps that were on the phone.
• Change key passwords — Apple Account or Google account first, then email, banking and social media. Sign the stolen phone out of sessions where the service allows it.
• Warn family and contacts. Thieves sometimes message them asking for money or codes.

Step 3: Find your IMEI number

The police and your carrier will both ask for the phone’s IMEI, the 15-digit number that identifies the handset itself. You can’t dial *#06# on a phone you no longer have, so look here:

• The original box — the barcode label lists IMEI (and IMEI2 on dual-SIM phones).
• Your Apple Account — sign in at account.apple.com, open Devices and select the iPhone; the serial number and IMEI are listed.
• Google Find My Device — select the phone and tap the info icon next to its name to see the IMEI.
• Your carrier account, receipt or invoice — many list the IMEI of phones bought or registered with them.

Make sure the number is complete and valid before you hand it over. Type it below — the check digit is verified in your browser:

Our phone theft protection guide covers that and nine other settings worth turning on for your next phone.

Step 4: File a police report

Report the theft to the police in the area where it happened. Give them the make, model, color, IMEI, your phone number and, if Find My shows a location, a screenshot of it. Ask for a report or reference number.

You’ll often need that reference for the carrier blacklist request, insurance claims (including AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss) and any later dispute. Don’t try to recover the phone yourself from a location on the map — share it with the police instead.

Step 5: Ask your carrier to blacklist the IMEI

Once you report a phone as lost or stolen, your carrier can add its IMEI to its block list and to the GSMA Device Registry, the shared database many operators around the world use. Networks that participate can then refuse service to that handset, whatever SIM is inserted.

What carriers generally need:

• Proof that you’re the account holder (ID and account details).
• The IMEI of the phone.
• Often a police report reference number.

In the US, major carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon accept lost or stolen reports through customer care and their online accounts; policies change, so confirm on your carrier’s official site (for example t-mobile.com/support or verizon.com/support). In the UK, networks share blocking information, so a phone blocked by one is generally blocked across the others.

In Nigeria and many other countries, start with a police report and your network operator. Regulators such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have worked on systems for registering and blocking devices, but procedures vary and change — check your regulator’s and operator’s official channels for the current process rather than trusting third parties who offer to “register” or “block” a phone for a fee.

Step 6: Confirm the block, and what to do if the phone is found

A few days after your report, check the status yourself. A GSMA blacklist status check should show the IMEI as blacklisted or lost/stolen. For US phones, use the USA blacklist / barred check or the carrier-specific Verizon clean/lost check. If it still shows clean, call your carrier and quote your report reference.

If you get the phone back, contact the same carrier and ask them to remove the block — only the reporting carrier can do that. We explain the process in can a blacklisted phone be unblocked. And if you’re now shopping for a replacement second-hand, check it first so you don’t inherit someone else’s problem: our blacklisted IMEI guide explains every status you might see.

Quick summary

1. Lock it: Lost Mode (iPhone) or Secure device (Android). Don’t remove it from your account.
2. Suspend the SIM, freeze banking, change passwords.
3. Find the IMEI on the box, your Apple Account, Google Find My Device or carrier invoice.
4. File a police report and get a reference number.
5. Ask your carrier to blacklist the IMEI, then verify it with a blacklist check.