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Twitter is like 'internet shopping for burglars'
27 Aug 2009Social networking sites are like internet shopping for burglars with users revealing details about their home and whereabouts to complete strangers, an insurer warned today.
Users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter are putting themselves at risk of being burgled by revealing too much personal information, according to Legal & General.
Research found that 38% of users of social networking sites have posted updates about their holiday plans, while 33% have told people they are going away for the weekend.
Nearly a quarter of people have also discussed their travel plans 'wall-to-wall', meaning they have no control over who reads them.
Many people are also failing to take basic steps to keep personal information secure, with 17% of people saying they have seen users' residential addresses posted on pages that can be viewed by strangers.
One in 10 people have also included phone numbers and 5% have included their address in profiles that are visible to friends.
People are also showing a lack of discernment about who they accept as a friend, which enables people to access personal information users have written about themselves on the site.
Legal & General sent 100 friend or follow requests to random users of Facebook and Twitter and these were accepted by 13% and 92% of people respectively.
Eight out of 10 of people said they thought the sites were a good way to track down people they had met on holiday, while 75% thought they were a good way to meet friends of friends and 47% of people admitted they used the site to 'meet' new people based on their photographs.
The insurer warned that criminals could take advantage of people's desire to recruit friends to learn information about them which would help them establish when a property was likely to be empty and what possessions people had.
Former burglar Michael Fraser, of the BBC's Beat the Burglar series, said: "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that burglars are using social networks to develop relationships with people to identify likely targets.
"They gain confidence by learning more about them, what they are likely to own and when they are likely to be out of the house, and then target appropriate victims. I call it internet shopping for burglars.
"It is incredibly easy to use social networking sites to target people, and then scope out more information on their actual home using other internet sites like Google Street View, all from the comfort of the sofa."
He added that in just one week a professional burglar would be able to use the sites to gain information on dozens of potential targets.
He said pet owners were particularly vulnerable as their homes were often less secure, as they may rely on their dog for security, have a cat flap in the backdoor, which can weaken it, or leave their burglar alarm off when they are away because of their pet.
* Opinion Matters questioned 2,092 regular users of social networking sites between July 24 and August 3.
Reader views (2)
A cynic may say that this insurers PR department have just piggybacked on the current popular trend, i.e. social networking, by carrying out a survey to generate publicity.
They only need to come up with one figure, how many people have been burgled due to posting information on social networking sites? yet this seems to be missing from the above survey.
- Cynic, london, 27/08/2009 16:16
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I'm always amazed when I read on some of my friends postings on Facebook, saying such things as 'See ya in 2 weeks' or 'Bye, I'm on Hols for a week'.
I try to let them know without worrying them, that anyone could be reading it, even friends of friends are people you dont really know.
Just be careful, xx
- Paul, Bromley, 27/08/2009 13:55
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