What to Do If You Lose Your Cell Phone
OMG!
It really does cause a panic in your soul. Similar to a catastrophe. Death. Loss of a loved one, well, because your cell phone is a loved one! You have so much of yourself invested in it-setting it up, precious photos, videos, financial info and personal data loss. It is more than enough to feel sick to your stomach. Your mind begins to wander-what if someone finds it, will they run up thousands of dollars in expenses somehow, will they steal my identity, links to my bank-OMG, the list goes on and on and on.
If you left it on an airplane, most carriers will send a text or email to you asking for you to call. You can always call your cell phone and hopefully an honest person will agree to send it back. If you are taking a flight, always provide another phone # to the airlines when getting a ticket and keep a record of your flights and seat numbers as you go to your destination. This info could assist the airline.
Once you know it's gone, call the airline and file a claim. Airlines will donate unclaimed cell phones and iPads\eReaders. If it is an iPad, go online and enable, Find my iPad to locate its location. This only works if when you bought it, you registered it. If your cell is a Samsung Galalxy Tab, you do the same thing.
If you lost an eReader like Kindle, Nook etc., go online and de-register the device to prevent nefarious critters from making purchases using credit card info with the device. Cancel automatic subscriptions. With iPads, do the same thing and remove any credit card info. You can also do a remote wipe to restore the device to factory settings.
You should always keep serial numbers of the device. Apple devices lost are harder to get back to the owners because most are password locked not allowing the finder, who is honest, to get email or a phone # to call.
As a last resort, inform your carrier and allow them to take appropriate action.