“What’s on my mind?” – every time I log onto Facebook, I’m asked this question. Considering the eclectic mix of family, friends and work colleagues that I’m ‘friends’ with, I’m reluctant to spill the beans. My mam doesn’t need to know about last nights shenanigans any more than my boss does. So, when it comes to social network updates, I’m in the “less is more” camp. It seems however that I’m in the minority. People just love to hear the sound of their own keyboards these days. Nothing is too farcical for Facebook or too trivial to tweet.
However you might be surprised and more than a little unsettled to know that there are people out there listening to your updates with more sinister intentions. When you tweet to your friends “Yay – just arrived at the airport!!!” someone else is thinking “Great, now where do you live and will your plasma screen fit into my van?”
The Digital Criminal Report highlights the rise of criminal ‘sofa stake outs”, where thieves surf social media channels to search for their next victims. The report throws up some worrying trends
- with 38% of social media users posting their travel itineraries;
- 23% doing so “wall to wall”, i.e. outside the privacy of their own page; and
- 5% including their home address in their visible personal information.
So maybe when you’re planning your next holiday you should also consider taking a short break from Facebook. Wait until you’re back home safe and sound before you upload the photos and tell us all what an amazing holiday you just had.
If you’re concerned about the safety of your personal belongings, your home and your car while you are away, perhaps it’s time you considered AXA’s Home Insurance or Car Insurance products. And if you are lucky enough to be heading away somewhere nice this year, make sure to check our new AXA Travel insurance product online.
Other less obvious things like 4square are just as bad. People reporting in on their locations and if you have their home address it’s fairly easy to see how far away they are. It doesn’t take much to setup a search function when alot of people use the same keywords.
Very interesting post Pauric. On a related topic many people suffered damage to their properties over the winter as a result of frozen pipes and/or ingress of water into the property. This can be very traumatic particularly if you have been away and return to find it and you have not had a chance to save belongings etc.
At AXA Assistance we have published a handy guide for property holders to help them protect their properties and minimise the risk of damage especially when they are away or if the unfortunate does happen how to deal with it.
Remember all AXA home insurance customers can contact us on 1890 247365 any time of the day or night for advise or access to our network of approved tradespeople or indeed to report an incident.
Good point Eoin, thanks for that.
People just need to be careful as to what they put up on to Facebook & Twitter. I will be keeping an eye on my tweets and facebook updates in the future.
I’ve heard recently that identity theft is becoming a problem on social networking sites. Be wary of friend requests. There’s a chance that the person looking to establish contact isn’t who they say they are and may be posing as someone from your past to gain access to your personal information.
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