How to reduce the risk of theft

To protect your home from burglars, we invite you to follow these tips when posting on social media:

• Change your privacy settings on your public and private accounts. By controlling who can see your posts, you won’t be sharing your private life with everyone on the Internet.
• Wait until you get home to post your vacation photos.
• Don’t post about upcoming travel or your daily comings and goings.
• Turn off the geotagging features.
• Only share your posts with your close friends.
• Clean up your friends list – there may be people with whom you don’t want to share your personal information.
• Don’t accept friend requests from strangers.
• Don’t post photos of your valuables.

As the saying goes: A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Whether you know your way around social media or not, here are a few good practices to reduce your risk of being robbed and some tips for peace of mind on vacation.

First, if you’re leaving for a few days, inform a neighbour you trust to pick up your mail and newspapers. In winter, ask that person to clear your driveway. Your home will appear lived in and your neighbour can keep an eye on it in your absence. You can do the same for your neighbour when the time comes!

Another good practice is to set your lights on a timer and install motion-detector lights. The former will make it look like someone is home by turning lights on and off at certain times. The latter will surprise anyone setting foot on your property. Smart, isn’t it?

Finally, equip your home with an alarm system tied into a central alarm system or police station. Not only will an alarm system give you a discount on your home Insurance premium, it will also discourage burglars. Also, if someone breaks into your home, there is a better chance they will be caught quickly.

In summary, if you’re not prepared to show a photo or provide certain information to a stranger, it’s probably a good idea to not post it online. This will definitely save you trouble.