Putting Yourself at Risk for Your Cell Phone?

According to a new survey by phone security company Lookout, the majority of Americans would put themselves at risk to get their lost or stolen phones back.
Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed cared more about their device and the data on it than the danger they were putting themselves in to retrieve it.
People were also willing to go to great financial lengths to get their phones back. Fifty percent of phone theft victims told Lookout they were likely to pay $500 (excluding the cost of the device) "to retrieve their stolen phone’s data, including all photos, videos, music, apps, and private information." Some were willing to pay even more: one-third of victims said they would be willing to pay $1,000 for the data on their phone.

Lookout also gathered quite a bit of information on how phones get taken. Phone theft happens most frequently when a phone is forgotten in a public place:
--44 percent of phones are stolen from a public setting
--14 percent were stolen from a car or house during a robbery
--11 percent were stolen directly from the person

As for the most high risk locations, restaurants were the most popular location in which phones were stolen, coming in at 16 percent.
--Bars and nightclubs were 11 percent of locations in which thieves struck
--Another 11 percent of thefts occurred at work (probably right after they've eaten part of your lunch)
--Six percent were on public transportation
--Five percent were on the street

You are at the highest risk for a phone theft between noon and 5 pm, at 40 percent, followed up by 29 percent in the early evening (6-to-9 pm), and 18 percent between 10 pm and 5 am.
This means the most common way to get your phone taken is to leave it behind in a restaurant, before 5 in the afternoon.
As for the aftermath of having your phone stolen, 10 percent of theft victims lost confidential company information, nine percent had their identities stolen, and 12 percent found fraudulent charges to their accounts.