Burglarized while away, Facebook to blame?

[Marcm157]

I am retired from law enforcement and back in the days prior to Facebook and all the other social media out there it was very common for seasoned burglars to read local obituaries in the paper. They would know exactly when entire families would be gone and for how long. It's sad to think that someone would be low enough to capitalize on a grieving family but unfortunately it happens often.

Facebook is just another very public way of saying come take my stuff...

[bankr63]

Luckily for me I now almost always have one of my (near) adult kids at home looking after pets while we are camping. They have jobs so stay home and appreciate the freedom (DS at University, DW is a recent grad breaking into the world). Burglary isn't really a problem, but the mess from DS's poker night with the boys can be...

[2edgesword]

Agree that FB can be a source of information for thieves. Unfortunately everyone in my neighborhood knows when we're away camping because the 32.5' trailer that is usually in my driveway is missing. You can add some protection (alarm system, 24 hour video surveillance, nighttime motion detection lighting, etc.).

[michael.g]

My wife and daughter both have Facebook accounts, son and I do not. Both wife and daughter have private Facebook accounts. Only their Facebook friends can see their Facebook page. They are only Facebook friends with people they actually know in the "real" world.

If the Facebook page is public, meaning anyone can see it, then posting that you are not home is certainly a bad idea. It's just like taking photos on a smart phone and storing location data in the photo, then posting said photos online.

My aunt and uncle used to take 2 week vacations and they'd always call the local Police department to let them know they were going away and would appreciate it if the PD could do drive bys every so often. Every year when they'd get home, the house had been broken into. Once they finally wised up and realized it was the local LEOs breakng in, they stopped informing the Police and they stopped having break-ins while on vacation.

When we go away, the only folks that know are family and our next door neighbor who keeps an eye on things for us.

-Michael

[DocBrown]

I've never understood the need to post every vacation photo on FB. Good advice about not posting you are away.

However, regardless of keeping a trailer at your house or not, if someone is casing your neighborhood, they can tell who is away. The only way to make it look like someone is home is to have a house sitter.

[Marine71-76]

We both have FB accounts & DW does verify the security settings (she use to work in IT). It amazes us some of the information people post - from vacations to doctor appointments to complaints about ex-spouses. TMI posted!

[ifallsguy]

Post you are on vacation on Facebook, Twitter or other social media? Why not just buy a billboard and TV ads to tell people you are gone, where you are and when you expect to be back?

I use anti-social media (read that as no social media) since what I do isn't anyone's business unless I want them to know. My wife also doesn't post when and where we are.

And remember just because you don't post you aren't home, your friends, neighbors and especially relatives probably will.

Get a good alarm system with a top monitoring service, tell the cops you will be gone, ask a trusted neighbor to keep an eye on your property and make sure your insurance is up to date.

[Siamese]

Limiting the circle of those who know you'll be absent is a no-brainer.

We do trips in our trailer and our sailboat, and take precautions with both. We have the SimpliSafe home security, and we have a couple lights on timers. We have multiple SimpliSafe signs around the house.

Our basement egress window is the most perfect place for a burglar to enter our house. I have a 1.5" thick "zombie door" in place that would be extremely to break through, and would create a lot of noise.

I don't even like the neighbors knowing we're going a way...but the trailer coming home from the storage area and sitting in the driveway for a day is a dead giveaway. Oh, well.

[Mustang65]

When your neighbors have no clue as to if you are home or not, is a good plan, although I do tell the important ones that live across the street and next to us.

My lights are activated and deactivated by my Home Automation system at all different times, based on the day's sunset. The outside yard lights come on randomly for 4-6 minutes between 9:30PM and 10:30PM, to simulate the puppies last time out for the night, when we are gone.

So, now I am working on a MEAN barking dog recording/playback that will be activated by my tier one outside sensors with a slight delay and use 4 speakers, varying the output to sound like they are running back and forth using speaker volume. OK, so I have nothing else to do....

The yard lights get activated at night by any tier one sensor being activated. I was thinking of programming it for the yard lights to keep flashing on/off until I reset them from my iPhone, from where ever I am at.

All things that enable a safer home, but the reality is that nothing is perfect... that's why we have insurance, but it is fun.

Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Octopus Prime]

I use FB quite often. My parents are both from large families, and I have three siblings and they all have children. Two of my siblings live far enough that we don't get to see each other often. I like having facebook to keep up with my relatives and for keeping up with friends where I lived for many years, then moved. I also am friends with various people from church and from my place of employment (local school district).

Having said that, my privacy settings are set to friends only with everything, and many people are set to restricted if I don't know them well enough.

Even with this, we don't post our pics on FB while we are gone. I will check FB and like pictures or share funny images to make it appear that life is normal. When I get home, I post that we had a blast camping at "Campground" and that we're glad to be home. Then I post pictures.

I trust my friends that can see my photos; however, I don't always know or trust their relatives or acquaintances. (I have a few of my own relatives I don't trust as far as I can throw.) I can imagine a scenario where my honest friend would innocently say to her husband, in hearing range of the addict brother-in-law, "Did you see the Prime family are camping? They will be gone for two weeks. Doesn't that sound fun?" And addict brother-in-law thinks a home burglary might be fun.

So it's best not to share. I still worry about word getting out even with that.

We do have our house alarm, cameras, pet sitter, and great neighbors, but it's in the back of my mind.

[PlayersZ28]

B&E's have been around a lot longer than FB

If a criminal thinks there's something of value in the house then they'll find a way to get it. You don't have to be on vacation for it to happen, just go to the grocery store or out to a movie. If they want to steal stuff from my house then have at it. Everything is replaceable and I'll get new stuff compliments of insurance. Anything irreplaceable is in a safe deposit box. We don't even lock the door unless we're gone for a few days.

If you do get burgled and buy new stuff don't put the boxes out to garbage either, just lets them know when to come again and get nice new things. Same goes at Xmas.

Oh, I just went and touched wood too.

[Bassdogs]

Past and recent disclosure of data breaches at FB along with the acknowledgement by FB that they sell access to FB member data/information ought to alert the final 3 people in America that FB [and other social media] is not a harmless place to play. Zuck didn't become a multi billionare by being a nice guy and building a "sharing" network for all of the world to expose their every minute detail of their lives for FREE. The disclosure of the secret inter world of FB and how they sell member info for billions of $$$'s has yet to be understood by many who continue to thing they can protect themselves by only friending actual friends/family. Its not just phony friends who can misuse your data, it is by design FB itself.


Join and use FB at your own risk. Be aware even if you do not have an account, you're over social daughter who tells her closest friends and a few thousand others that Mom and Dad are heading off for a 3 month trip to ????? and you have still been exposed. Check and see what your family members have shared about their family [names, ages, addresses, hobbies etc] and you won't feel so safe.


Why do common people think that what they ate for breakfast or that they stopped at a car wash on their way to the gym is of interest to anyone. Their kids smearing ketsup all over the kitchen or a new pair of shoes they just added to their closet and somehow they have enriched the world with insite about their lives. For the most part FB is nothing more than a current version of chatting on the phone or sending letters with recent family pics to their parents. Nothing more I say but for some reason there are entities that are willing to pay billions to be able to access the combined data of the hundreds of millions of FB accounts.

[WeRJuliian]

On a related subject, did you know that names and addresses of people making reservations in State Parks (at least here in FL) are public domain information, and, by law, have to be revealed to anyone making the proper application? *

So, anyone can ask for a list of home addresses of people likely to be out camping, which certainly narrows down the search for places to burgle.



*(Yes, there are exceptions.. members of law enforcement, etc, can request to have their details concealed... but the rest of us have no option)

[Chiggins]

Yeah... I know someone this happened to and police said exactly that, dont post you are gone online. We have for years followed this and we post online pictures after we get back. Only people I talk to regularly which is a small circle of friends know when we are not home.

[Camper_bob]

We don't put up details about our trips beforehand or during on any social media, and we discourage our friends from doing so too. Some of them heed the advice, some do not.

As for our home, we have a monitored security system, VERY watchful neighbors, we tell our neighbors when we'll be gone and to keep an eye out, and we do the same for them when they're gone, and one of our neighbors is LEO and has two heavily marked departmental vehicles parked right out front.

All that being said, if someone wants your stuff bad enough, they will get it. I just hope to be the hardest target by not advertising my "stuff" or my patterns... If you're being chased by a lion, you don't have to be the fastest, but you SURE don't want to be the slowest! Make sure you're not an easy target and you have a better chance.

People share WAY too much online...

[vcbice]

You have to think of Facebook as PUBLIC information, no matter how you set up your account. You say you only have 'two' friends. OK, you post and they reply. Their replies can be viewed by all their friends. If one of those friends replies then all their friends can see it.

So, it is not just you and your friend having a conversation, it is their friends and their friends friends. Some of those folks will have hundreds of 'friends'. Unless you go to each of your friends and view their friends list and security settings, then consider that all your posts are PUBLIC. If you still have a day job conisder that your employer will see what you post as well.

As to security, if someone is interested in your 'stuff' they will know when you are gone and steal it.

[campingva]

I have l drastically limited the number of "Friends" I have on FB. I also do not publish the fact whether or not we are home. I also limited the number of friend requests because I was getting many each day from not only people I do not know but from countries I have never been too. People do not realize that when they open some apps that they give permission for the app to have access to all your contacts on your digital device and they are then made public. Too much relying on digital media.

[kneeslider]

never advertise your absence. tell only your most trusted associates & limit that number!

[Quantum]

Our RV is parked in my shop along with my truck, my wife's SUV in the garage. Even when we are home, no one knows since the vehicles are all garaged. Even when we are planning to leave early the next morning, I don't hookup the trailer until that morning, it only takes 10 minutes to hookup. That way no one really knows if we're home or not.