How to Block a Stolen Phone on Vodacom South Africa
How do you block a stolen phone on Vodacom South Africa? If you are looking for this information, then you have come to the right place. Unfortunately, phones being stolen is a daily occurrence in South Africa. In most instances, the thieves will politely ask you to kindly hand your phone over. In other instances, they will first bludgeon you to get to your phone. If you have fallen victim to these criminals, the following is how to block a stolen Vodacom phone;
Vodacom Stolen Phone: What to do
The following are the steps that you need to take in the event that your Vodacom South Africa phone has been stolen;
- First, you need to get you Vodacom SIM card blocked. This prevents the thieves from using your phone for calls and other activities that could see you incurring excessive bills. To lock your Vodacom SIM card, call 135 from a Vodacom phone or 082 135 from another network. That’s the Vodacom Customer Services number. You are not charged anything when calling from a Vodacom phone.
- Next, you need to blacklist your phone. What this does is to prevent anybody from using the phone on any network. Blacklisting effectively bricks your stolen phone. So, even if somebody were to put in a new SIM from another network, they won’t be able to use the phone. To blacklist your phone, call 082 135.
- During the call, get an ITC reference number from Customer Care. This will be needed when you lodge a police report as part of efforts to recover your stolen Vodacom phone.
Vodacom Stolen Phone Contact Number
The Vodacom stolen phone contact number is 082 135. That’s the Vodacom Customer Care number. When your phone is stolen, call the number and you can get your SIM locked or your device blocked.
Vodacom SIM lock types
That’s how to block a stolen Vodacom phone in South Africa. With regard to locking your SIM, there are 2 types of locking available to those whose gadgets have been pilfered.
Hard lock
First, you can hard lock your SIM. What it means is that your SIM will be blocked for both incoming and outgoing calls. This is the option that you should choose if your Vodacom phone has been stolen.
Soft lock
You can also soft lock your Vodacom SIM. This blocks all outgoing calls while allowing incoming calls. This is probably an option if you are not sure if your phone has been stolen or has simply been misplaced. A soft lock protects you because it means thieves will not be able to make calls using your phone.
What if I find a blacklisted phone?
It’s possible that you will find the phone that you had previously blacklisted. What do you do in that case? Well, the good news is that you can have a blacklisted phone reactivated. To do so, you need to take the following steps;
- Call Vodacom’s Customer Care on 082 135.
- Complete a form requesting to have your phone un-blacklisted.
- Email the form to vspblacklisting@vodacom.co.za. You will need to also email a copy of your id.
- After the device has been reactivated, you will need to keep it off for 24 hours.
Why Report Stolen Phone Vodacom
That’s how to block a Vodacom stolen phone. But why would you bother going through all these steps. Why is reporting a stolen phone on Vodacom important? Isn’t it easier to simply buy a new phone and to do a SIM replacement? Well, there are a number of very real reasons why you would want to learn how to block a stolen Vodacom phone;
Blocking your SIM stops people from using your airtime and data
Cheeky thieves usually go overboard making calls using stolen devices. That’s the first reason why you may be looking to block a stolen Vodacom phone. You don’t want to end up incurring very high data and call bills from your device being used by a thief.
Phones contain a wealth of personal information
Today, people use their phones for almost anything. Each of our phones contain a wealth of information about us. You don’t want to have this information fall into the wrong hands. As an example, most phones are linked to bank accounts. Imagine that information falling into the hands of some Tsotsi in Joburg or eslewhere in South Africa! It pays to immediately report and block a Vodacom stolen phone.
Blacklisting a stolen Vodacom phone removes the incentives for thieves to go on stealing
There are thieves out there who have made it a profession to steal phones. They target mostly women. In South Africa, many people are killed every year during the course of these robberies. It’s important for anyone who has lost their phone to take steps to block it from ever being used on any network.
That removes the incentive for thieves to steal phones. We know, the steps are bit cumbersome, but they can be done in a few hours. The payoff is that you will know that no one out there will be able to use your phone again.
Always insure your devices
Taking out insurance on mobile devices is not something that people in South Africa generally do. However, you will realize the importance when somebody steals your Vodacom phone. This is South Africa, after all. You should assume that your phone, particularly if you have one that’s nice, will be stolen at one point or the other.
The good thing is that you can take out Device Insurance from Vodacom. This allows you to claim in the event that your phone is stolen. Usually, stolen devices are replaced within 48 hours. But how much does it cost to get this insurance? Well, you can insure your phone on Vodacom starting from as little as R20 per month.
Check out our article on how to do a Vodacom SIM swap or replacement. Also read our post on how to RICA a Vodacom SIM.