Burglars Using Social Media to Choose Homes to Target

UK home security company Friedland has conducted a survey of ex-burglars and has found that the majority of them say that if they were still in the business, they would for sure use social media to make burglarizing easier for them. They say that homeowners who tweet information (or post it on Facebook) disclosing their whereabouts make it easy for burglars to pick a good time to rob them. And not only that, they say that Google Earth makes it ever so much easier to pick targets, because it allows burglars to case the property, so to speak. In addition to saying they would used such tools, the ex-criminals said they believe current burglars are actually doing so.

The experts at Freidland also say that the modern home burglary takes on average just ten minutes and that most homes can be entered within two.

The survey conducted by the research team involved interviewing 50 ex-burglars as part of "UK Home Security Week 2011", an initiative supported by the national Crimestoppers organization to figure out what makes a home a prime target for today's thieves and then to offer tips to homeowners to thwart such efforts.

Also of interest, in the survey, four out of five of the ex-burglars admitted that they avoided houses that had clearly functioning burglar alarms, preferring instead to hit homes were they could do their work in silence. Aproximately the same number also said that their burglaring efforts were rarely if ever of the opportunistic kind, meaning they almost always checked out a home very carefully before striking.

Spokespeople for Freidland say that it's important for people to understand that burglars prefer their activities go off with little to no fanfare, which is why they constantly search for new and innovative ways to rob homes. This is why the ex-burglars say that most if not all burglars these days are turning to more modern techniques, such as monitoring Twitter feeds, or watching for postings by families on Facebook or Four Square announcing how they are going on vacation. Burglars have homes too, and quite often access to the Internet. They watch videos on YouTube also, just like anyone else, though they may find parts of them more interesting than others, such as expensive items in the background.

The whole point is that homeowners who get online need to be more aware of what they are broadcasting to the world, and who might be listening.