People like to post pictures of themselves while on vacation on Facebook or on the Internet... That has got to be one of the dumbest things you could possibly do.... Why? It's an invitation to unscrupulous people and thieves.
When you place photos of yourself on vacation on the Internet (Facebook or any other Social Media site or even on your own web page or blog) you are saying,
"I'm not home. No one is home. That makes my home an easy target for burglary. There's probably jewelry and credit cards laying around. Come and get it."
Think.
Here's a photo of us getting ready to eat shrimp at a shrimp farm in Hawaii... Two years ago!!!
Go back to the days before the Internet; when your family went on vacation, what did you do? (Choose one):
a) Leave some lights on in the house. Ask the neighbors to pick up your mail so it looks like someone is home. If you were gone for a longer period, you might ask the neighbors to go into your house, feed the fish, water the plants, turn on different lights in different parts of the house to give your house the look of "someone home."
b) Put a giant sign on top of the roof of your house that says, "We're on vacation!"
You did "a," right? Of course.
Now, in the Internet age, when hundreds of thousands of complete strangers can see what you post, why in the world would you broadcast that you are not home and your house will be empty for a few days, just ripe to be broken into and robbed?
That's completely lacking in common sense.
It doesn't really matter if you have an alarm system. The average burglar spends 8 to 12 minutes in your home before they are long gone.
Think your alarm system is going to stop that when they can just rip the unit from the wall and the security service (that is listed on the Internet) will voluntarily tell anyone how long it takes for them to react to an alarm (most cases 35 ~ 45 minutes)?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with posting vacation pictures on the Internet... But be smart... Is it wise to do that while on vacation or after you've returned?
You don't put a sign on your door when you are on vacation that says "Gone to Hawaii".... Don't put up one on the Internet.
2 comments:
That's good advice, Mike. We missed you for a couple of days!
Anyhow... I agree... at least wait until you get back to post the pix on a social media site!
Two years ago in Hawaii - fine. If that photo was from Now - then I'm jealous.
Cheers!
So what exactly inspired this impromptu lesson in common sense? Did someone you know get robbed recently?
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