iPhone users have discovered a buried setting that can help combat mobile fraud.

It takes just two minutes to enable it and it could stop fraudsters from receiving any one-time passcodes sent by your bank to confirm your identity.

It will also stop them from using any mobile data or making phone calls.

The simple trick is to make sure your SIM card PIN is enabled in your settings – most people don’t know this as the option is buried deep within your phone.

How to enable a PIN for your SIM card

1. To enable a PIN for your SIM card, go to the settings app on your iPhone.

2. Next, select ‘Mobile Data’. 

3. Now, scroll down and click the buried option of ‘SIM PIN’.

4. Enable SIM PIN by clicking the button to turn it green. 

5. Finally, enter your SIM PIN to lock it – once it’s locked, it will prompt you to enter it before using your SIM card, meaning fraudsters will hit a wall.

If you don’t know your SIM PIN 

If you don’t know your SIM PIN or you’ve never used one, enter the default SIM PIN from your network provider.

However, if you don’t know what the default SIM PIN is, don’t try to guess as you may get locked out permanently and end up needing to get a new SIM card.

Instead, check your network provider’s customer service page or the documents that came with your wireless plan. 

If you still can’t find it, you can contact your network provider directly.

If you aren’t sure what your network provider is, remove your SIM card and check for the network provider’s name or logo.

Why should you do it?  

Once you’ve done this, when fraudsters attempt to transfer the sim to another phone, they will hit a wall.

It protects your identity –  no one can access it without knowing the various codes or having the exact pattern of your fingerprint.

It’s a good way of securing your identity, especially from fraudsters who are attempting identity theft.

It stops one time passwords from being sent and stops criminals from using any mobile data or making phone calls.

What else can you do to prevent mobile fraud? 

Another option is to switch to an eSIM instead of a physical SIM, so thieves can’t just pop your SIM into their phone.  

Additionally, you should turn off notifications that show part of a message, which means one time passwords won’t be visible on a locked phone. 

Simply go to iPhone Settings – Notifications – Show Previews (set to ‘Never’). 

A 13-year-old girl in China managed to spend a staggering $64,000 on mobile phone games in just a few months – wiping out her parents’ life savings without them knowing.

The teenager’s mother, Gong Yiwang, only found out her account had been ransacked after teachers at her daughter’s boarding school phoned to tell her they were worried she was addicted to video games.

When Gong went to check her bank account, she found just seven cents remaining following the girl’s spending spree, which lasted from January to May last year.

‘I never thought a 13-year-old girl could do this,’ she told Chinese TV station Elephant News. ‘I’m in a daze; my head feels like it’s going to explode.’

The girl, who has not been named, managed to empty the account and conceal the payments, deleting chat and transaction records to hide them from her parents.

Not only did Gong’s daughter spend her parents’ money on games for herself, she also forked out for in-game purchases for her friends.

The young girl was devastated when her story was exposed, telling Elephant News that she was pestered by her schoolmates to send them money. 

‘If I didn’t send it to them, they would bother me all day. If I told the teacher, I was afraid that the teacher would tell my parents and that my parents would be angry,’ she said through tears.

The spendthrift managed to rack up a £16,800 bill for game accounts, £30,000 bill for in-game purchases, and sent money to ten of her classmates – bringing the total cost to a reported £68,000.

The story of the unbelievable months-long spending spree went viral on Chinese social media, racking up 140 million views on Weibo, Insider reports.

The Chinese government considers internet addiction a clinical disorder and for years has worked to reduce gaming, which it previously described as ‘spiritual opium’.

Last year, the regulatory body the China Game Industry Group Committee claimed to have successfully curbed gaming addiction among young people through a series of strict laws around the sector. 

In 2021, Chinese authorities restricted minors from playing online games – cutting their daily allowance to just an hour a day and only on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. 

As far back as 2008, the Chinese Ministry of Health began viewing internet addiction as a clinical disorder, marked by staying online for more than six hours a day and having adverse reactions to not being online.

A 2018 report published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found nearly 12 percent of Chinese university students had Internet Addiction Disorder, which it called an impulse control disorder, ‘similar to eating disorders, pathological gambling… and other addictions.’

According to the China’s General Administration of Press and Publication, 14 percent of Chinese minors, including 33 million of those under the age of 16, are obsessed with the Internet.