OVERSHARING information on social media could leave you open to be being a victim of crime.
That is the warning from AA Home Insurance, which has just released results of a survey on home security.
A survey of over 5,000 people revealed that women aged between 17 and 24 years old are most likely to take extra precautions to safeguard their homes over the festive season. But the survey also revealed that that almost one in three of these young women are likely to upload images of their Christmas presents for their friends and followers to see – and put themselves at risk of being targeted by thieves.
Nearly 40 percent say they will likely alert their network as to their whereabouts via ‘check-in’ status updates on social networking platforms such as Facebook. Such a move could tip off prospective burglars that they are not at home.
Although 67 percent of young men say they will take extra precautions, they are the least likely to actively consider the security of their home, according to the survey. It found that 22% of young men claim they are ‘neutral’ on the topic of home security. And almost a quarter of young men said they are likely to uploads photos of Christmas presents.
Director of consumer affairs at the AA, Conor Faughan, said: “Social media is a great means of keeping in contact with loved ones, especially over the Christmas holidays. But something as innocuous as posting an image of the expensive earrings you were gifted helps burglars piece together valuable information about you.
“We would strongly recommend disabling the GPS location feature on your mobile phone a simple tweet or status update can inadvertently reveal your location to the network and possibly beyond.
AA Home Insurance urge people to consider the following steps for security:
Ask your teenage children not to post or tweet about any family holiday plans.
Remove wall postings from friends that may allude to your travel plans.
Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know this Christmas.
Review your security settings to restrict access to your personal profile information.
Use private DM or inbox facilities to communicate private messages this Christmas.
Don’t tweet or post about your Christmas gifts.
Wait until after Christmas to post your holiday photos/videos.
Be creative with where you hide gifts in the run up to Christmas – ensure it’s difficult for thieves to make off with the haul.</p>