What to Do If Your Laptop or Phone Is Lost or Stolen

If a work laptop or phone goes missing, what you do in the first few minutes matters far more than how it was lost. Nobody will ask why — the only thing that makes a real difference is how quickly it’s reported.

Do this first, before anything else

Call support immediately — don’t wait until you’re back at a computer to email, and don’t spend time searching for it yourself first. The moment we know, we can:

• Remotely lock the device.
• Wipe company data from it if needed.
• Revoke its access to email, files, and other company systems.

Every minute between losing the device and reporting it is a minute someone else could potentially access what’s on it.

Tip

Save the support number in your personal phone, not just your work one — if your work phone is what’s missing, you’ll need another way to reach us.

Why this matters even with a lock screen

A passcode or fingerprint lock slows someone down, but it’s not a guarantee, and most company devices hold access to far more than what’s stored locally — email, shared files, internal systems. Remotely revoking that access is what actually limits the damage, and we can only do that once we know it’s missing.

What we’ll need from you

• Roughly when and where you last had it.
• Whether it’s lost (might still turn up) or definitely stolen.
• Whether it was locked/passcode-protected at the time.

If it turns up again

Don’t just carry on using it — contact support first. Depending on what was done to secure it (remote lock, wipe, access revoked), it may need to be checked over or reset before it’s safe to use again.

Prevention worth mentioning

Locking your screen whenever you step away, and using a strong passcode rather than none at all, both reduce what someone can do with a device in the window before it’s reported.