Posting vacation info on social media opens homeowners up to break-ins

Experts are advising people to wait until they get back before posting their vacation photos to their social media accounts.

Before you post travel selfies from the beach or cottage, remember who might see them -- and use the information against you.

Now that warm weather is here, many people are planning summer vacations, but experts are warning about the risks that come with posting those details on social media.

A new survey from Allstate Canada shows some are more concerned about who knows they’re on vacation, than who knows their home is unoccupied.

In fact, the results show 15 per cent of respondents shared that social media is more of a priority than keeping their homes safe from break-ins.

“It’s more important for them for others to know that they’re on vacation than to keep their home safe,” said Marc Tannous an agency manager at Allstate Canada.

“That’s really alarming to us because it should be that your priority is to keep your home safe.”

‘Risky trend’

Of those polled, nearly one-third (32 per cent) of Canadian social media users said they post their vacation plans before or during their trip.

Calling it ‘a risky trend,’ Allstate warns that information is a big tipoff for would-be thieves.

Tannous said their message is timely – summer months have the highest number of claims following break-ins.

“People take most vacations during those periods of time -- July and August,” he said.

“We want to avoid potential situations that could have been done differently. For example, let’s say someone didn’t realize that you were going to be away. They wouldn’t have done a break-in in your house, thus avoiding a claim for you.”

Police agree that posting vacation details to social media while still away is not wise.

“If you’re putting that on social media, it’s like a big billboard, ‘Please come here and rob my house,’” said Const. Michelle Simard from the OPP North East Region.

Simard said taking some precautions before you leave, such as an inventory of your valuables, can help in case you are victimized.

“Your TVs, your laptops, if you take down a serial number of it with the make and the model, if it somehow does get stolen, we’re able to put that down on our system,” Simard said.

“Then if it ever comes up again, we’ll know that it’s yours. So, take inventory of the big things.”

Simard and Tannous agree that if someone wants to post vacation photos to social media, they should wait until they’re home from their vacation.

There would also be more pictures to choose from after the fact.