You check in to your social media account. You tell all your friends and family where you are and what you’re doing. Maybe you’re grabbing a cup of coffee down the street, or sunning yourself on a peaceful Caribbean beach. While you’re doing this, someone is busily loading all of your valuables and carting them off.
The simple way to avoid this is to turn off your tracking features. While these have their uses, they can do far more damage than you realize. Not only do they broadcast the fact that your home is unguarded, they can make it easy for people to find you, or your family, and do them harm.
In addition to not advertising your location, don’t post details about your whereabouts until after you’re home. This is especially true when leaving for vacations or business trips. Posting something such as “Hey, I’m going to Paris next week!” gives burglars time to prepare and plan their assault on your home. Further, if you post a picture of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower on Tuesday morning, then the bad guys will know you’re not going to be home Tuesday afternoon or evening.
Bottom line: Be smart with your social media usage. Disable tracking features on your accounts and your children’s. Further, educate your children on the dangers of location based service apps so that they don’t inadvertently expose your home to a burglary, or themselves to a kidnapping.
Shield Security Systems would be glad to help you navigate and avoid the dangers of location based service apps. We invite you to contact us at 1-800-4SHIELD for more suggestions on ways you can keep your location a secret from all but those who need to know where you are.
