Three quarters of convicted burglars questioned said sites including Google Street View now play a big part in their planning.
A similar amount said Twitter and Facebook – where users ‘check in’ to locations – are also being used by criminals.
During a recent interview with Sky News Security expert Jonathan Lim said: “Burglars are analysing what’s going on. “They can see people’s status updates, with people on Twitter saying ‘I’m away on holiday having a great time’. If they know where you live it’s like an open invitation.”
Former burglar Richard Taylor said: “We’re living in the age of the digital criminal and people are taking advantage of social media to access information about would-be victims.We’ll tell them even when we’re going away on holidays. We will let them know that we’re not in. We’re inviting them… round to our house.”Convicted burglars were asked the most likely things to lead them to target a property for Friedland Security’s UK Home Security Report.
As well as outlining their use of new technology, a fifth of burglars said they monitored homeowners’ daily routine before striking.
The survey of 50 convicted burglars also found the average home burglary only takes 10 minutes to commit.
A home with no visible security could be broken into in just two minutes, they revealed.
Average burglaries net criminals nearly £500, with most aiming for jewellery, cash and electrical goods although others targeted documents like passports.
Only a quarter of those polled said guard dogs were a deterrent and less than one in 10 were put off by nosy neighbours.
But more than half – 60% – said they would be discouraged from targeting a home if they knew it had a security alarm.
