A recent study carried out by Friedland has put forward the idea that the majority of burglars are making use of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to target potential victims in the UK.
As we are living in the technology and information age, criminals are actually taking advantage of social media and the open communication between people on these sites to identify vulnerable properties, utilising the information given away by people on Facebook or Twitter.
After questioning convicted burglars, over 75% admitted that social media and sites like Google Street View, played a huge role in planning their entrance and escape routes when they break into a house. They said that they used Facebook and Twitter where users posted their ‘check in’ to locations. This ‘check in” to location was a helpful source of information, letting them know whether the occupant was at home or not.
Social media experts state that people’s status updates can be seen by the wrong people, especially if there is no privacy enabled, and nowadays it is an easy task to hack a Facebook account. Therefore, it is really important not advisable to post status such as, for example, “Leaving home and can’t wait to get on holiday and relax for two weeks”. These posts give a burglar an open invitation to break in your house.
How can we prevent this?
To start with, it would be obvious to secure your social media accounts by restricting the permissions afforded by the privacy settings. This will decrease the chances of you being targeted, however it still doesn’t protect you completely as it does not take much to hack a Facebook account. If you want to secure your home from burglars, the best option, in many people’s opinion is to fix a visual deterrent. Just by seeing such a deterrent is in place, such as security grilles, door gates or window bars, burglars will hesitate to approach your property because of the difficulty they will face in trying to break-in, instead choosing an altogether different target.
It is also a good idea to invest in a safe to store all of your valuable documents, such as your passport and National Identity card, as these items are specifically targeted by criminals looking to clone these documents to commit identity fraud.
If you’d like to find out more about keeping your property protected you can speak to our team on 0208 123 1088.