Burglars Might Read Your Facebook and Twitter

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Here's a little tip for those of you who are planning on taking a vacation in the next few months: writing about it on Facebook or Twitter could attract burglars who are looking for empty homes to break into.

Yahoo! News reports results from a survey conducted by insurance company Legal & General show which show an alarming number of people post details of their upcoming trips or new purchases on their Twitter and Facebook. Not only that, but apparently burglars are using these people's updates to find out who's going to be out of town and when.

According to L&G's research, 38 percent of users of social networking sites have posted updates about their holiday plans, while 33 percent have told people they are going away for the weekend. The study also showed that nearly a quarter of people discussed their vacations or trips on with friends via their walls. In other words, no control over who could see what they were posting.

The report went on to quote former burglar Michael Fraser, who appeared on the BBC's Beat the Burglar series. Fraise says, "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that burglars are using social networks to develop relationships with people to identify likely targets."

Read more here.

Jane McEntegart
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ecnovaec
    ok i'll be sure to frequently post "cleaning my Glock and feeding my alligator" to deter them!
    Reply
  • tenor77
    There's a reason I throw my electronics boxes away at work. Nothing like advertising "Hey I just bought a 42" OLED!" to my neighbors who know when I'm home and when I'm not.
    Reply
  • hopiamani
    I've always joked that telling my neighbor about my vacation plans is a bad idea... lol
    Reply
  • flightmare
    Over here in the Netherlands, the government is even launching television spots about this all, telling people to be more careful.
    Reply
  • Greg_77
    tenor77There's a reason I throw my electronics boxes away at work. Nothing like advertising "Hey I just bought a 42" OLED!" to my neighbors who know when I'm home and when I'm not.Boy, you bought a 42 in. OLED screen!! If that was true,I'd rob your house as well ;) jk
    Reply
  • chaohsiangchen
    I booby trap my home whenever I leave for certain period of time.

    You guess how long that is.
    Reply
  • hellwig
    If we just shutdown these stupid sites, we wouldn't have to have stories about how stupid the people who use them are. We all know most tweeters and facebookers are stupid, can we stop calling it "news"?

    I mean, I could post "going on vacation, leaving my door unlocked and $500 on my dresser", but someone would have to know where I lived first. This means that:
    a) one of my close real-life friends plans to rob me, in which case I need to re-evaluate my friends,
    b) I posted my address online, which was insanely stupid and I deserve to get robbed, again, relating to how stupid most of these people are.
    Reply
  • justiceguy216
    hellwigIf we just shutdown these stupid sites, we wouldn't have to have stories about how stupid the people who use them are. We all know most tweeters and facebookers are stupid, can we stop calling it "news"?I mean, I could post "going on vacation, leaving my door unlocked and $500 on my dresser", but someone would have to know where I lived first. This means that: a) one of my close real-life friends plans to rob me, in which case I need to re-evaluate my friends, b) I posted my address online, which was insanely stupid and I deserve to get robbed, again, relating to how stupid most of these people are.
    There are some really good uses for Facebook and Twitter, most of the parties I've gone to recently have been organized on Facebook because it makes it really smooth and easy.

    a) I agree with you, people should not associated with such immoral characters.
    b) Our identities and locations aren't as sacred as some people think, almost anyone in the U.S. can be found by address using just their first and last name. Try a reverse lookup using www.anywho.com, even most unlisted phone #'s can be found there.
    Reply
  • IzzyCraft
    Well it's what you get for not making your profile private or having robbers as friends.
    Reply
  • gekko668
    Is it just me or is it that as technology becomes more advance, people are become dumb-er?
    Reply