Brazilians are buying cell phones to leave at home

Recently, the case of a talent agent who had his cell phone stolen and his digital accounts accessed by criminals raised a series of discussions on social networks. Among them, many users debated about cybersecurity and how to protect their bank details from criminals. For this, one of the most used tactics is to buy a second cell phone to leave at home.

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On this spare device, known as the “Pix cell phone”, people leave their registered banks and payment institutions, while on the other device they only maintain the networks social. Thus, they do not run the risk of having their sensitive information stolen by bandits when going out on the streets.

Increased demand for a second cell phone

Ironically, a second cell phone that people used to take out on the street was known as a “thief cell phone”. However, the number of people looking for one of these to keep at home is increasing. According to the head of Xiaomi Brasil, since September 2021 there has been an increase in demand for smartphones to be intended for this type of use.

Even, according to experts, this is not really necessary, since most intermediate models offer security mechanisms. Of course, you still need to take some precautions, such as not registering the email you use for banks on the same devices with these applications installed.

How to avoid data theft from your cell phone?

If you don't have a second device and have to take yours with you when you leave the house, there are steps you can take to prevent criminals from stealing your data. After all, this is a relatively high possibility, especially for someone who lives in a country like Brazil. According to the experts, these changes can save you from going through what the talent agent did:

• Do not leave passwords saved on the device;
• Use two-factor authentication;
• Strong passwords are very important, so abuse special characters, numbers and letters;
• Only install applications from official system stores (App Store or Play Store);
• Do not click on suspicious links.