Now that folks are starting to travel for summer vacations, here’s a little reminder…
If you’ve been on Facebook for more than five minutes, you’ve no doubt seen lots of status updates similar to this:
“We just arrived at the airport. So glad our trip to Jamaica is finally underway! See ya’ll in 10 days!”
Most people would read this status update and think nothing of it, but a thief could read it and immediately start making plans to pay your home a little visit sometime during the next nine days.
While it’s certainly understandable that one would want to share the good news about a well-deserved vacation with their friends, is it really wise to share it on the Internet? Sure, we trust our friends not to rob us blind while we’re gone, but what about our friends’ friends?
Even if you have your privacy settings configured to share your Facebook posts with just your “friends”, how do you know they won’t share your vacation plans with their friends?
And how do you know that all of your friends’ friends are trustworthy.
For that matter, how do you know that all of your friends on Facebook are trustworthy?
And when it comes right down to it, do you even really know all your Facebook friends? For many of is the answer is no.
The possibility of getting burgled because of a Facebook post might seem a bit far-fetched, but it happens every single day in the real world. And the problem is getting worse.
Many users publish more than enough personal info on their Facebook profiles to make it easy for a thief to use Google Maps to find their homes. All it takes is one seemingly innocent status update to make your home a prime target for burglars while you’re out of town on vacation.
Does this mean you should refrain from telling your closest friends that you’re going to be out of town for a while?
No, not at all. But it might be a good idea to only tell the friends you would trust with the key to your home – and be sure to tell them either in person or on the phone.
And now, one final recommendation…
As much as you’ll surely enjoy spending time on some tropical beach, it might be wise to wait until you get back home to post the photos of you and your family lounging in the sun and doing all the fun and exciting things you did while you were away from home. Just sayin’.