BENGALURU: The next time you feel like posting live updates of your vacation on social media, think twice about who has access to these posts. A resident of RT Nagar, who had posted details of a trip she was taking out of the city on Facebook, returned to find her house ransacked with her jewelery, cash and a two-wheeler missing.
Premalatha, who lives with her brother Lohith in their home, approached the RT Nagar police on Monday and told them that she had gone on a trip to neighbouring Tamil Nadu with her family to visit a temple and enroute, she had updated her Facebook status mentioning that she was heading to Gobichettipalyam, her native. The family came back around 2 am after the trip and found the house door broken and their home in a dishevelled state.
Upon entering the house and taking stock, they found that their two-wheeler, jewels worth `5 lakh and `57,000 in cash had been stolen. “She suspects that the burglars might have noticed her Facebook status and might have committed the burglary. The CCTV installed in the neighbours premises was not working and they might have taken advantage of this fact. The police is investigating and statements have been taken from all family members. Her brother Lohith is a sales manager in a property management company,” a police official said.
STAY SAFE ONLINE
With social media apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter offering multiple platforms for users to share their experiences in real time, instances of this information being misused are on the rise. However, a little care taken while posting on social media can help keep your information private. It is important to know which platform to share private information on. For example, Twitter is generally viewed as a public platform while Instagram and Facebook are more private. However, your posts on Facebook should be restricted to friends only and not shared publicly. The audience that is able to view your post can be changed for each post on Facebook.