Martin Lewis has shared a warning with five tips to help keep financial data safe and stop phones being stolen.

On his Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV, he said: "There are thieves who want to access your finances by your phone. It is growing. It is dangerous. Protect yourself please."

He added: "Mobile phone thefts are up 40% in London, but they're going up right across the country too.

"Now the crucial thing they're not just trying to nick your phone. Some of them are trying to access your financial data from your phone. You have to protect yourselves."

He then highlighted five quick tips:

1. Use remote tracking apps

This can help to locate your device if it's been stolen and suspend payments.

2. Enable biometrics

This is the face ID and fingerprint ID on your phone, both for the phone itself and for your banking apps.

He added: "If you're not going to and you're a PIN code type person, please make it a different pin code for the phone and the banking apps. It's called shoulder surfing. These days, people look over your shoulder to see your PIN code, and then, if you're doing the same for both, they can access your money."

3. Get your IMEI image

"Now this one sounds a bit weird," he admitted. "Dial *#6# to get your IMEI image, then screen grab and save it. That is what you're going to need to get if your phone is stolen.

He added: "Screen grab it and assuming you can access your email, not just on your phone, I would just email it to yourself so you've got a copy somewhere. I know it sounds weird, but that's what happens."

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4. Disable notifications to your lock screen

"I think this is possibly the most important one," he said. "So loads of people, when you pay for something, they send you a code on your phone to second factor authentication. Many people have that appear on their lock screen. So when your phone's locked, the code still appears.

"You don't want that. I mean, someone takes your phone, they can get the code. So what you need to do to stop that is turn off your preview notifications. It will still tell you how to message, but it won't give you the code on the message you do that in your settings.

"Everybody, please do that one. It's a nightmare if you've not done it."

5. Use your phone's extra security protections

"If you've got time, check out your phone's extra security protections. Lots have them. IPhone has stolen protection. So if you're an unfamiliar location, to pay on a card, you need to use biometrics, and there'll be a one hour delay on changing your settings. Android has theft detection lock, which means your phone is moved quickly, it locks the screen. All of those things are important."