Burglars are opportunists. Whether they make the effort to scope out a neighborhood ahead of time or just randomly choose a neighborhood and go for it, they look for homes they feel are easy targets. If they happen to be in your neighborhood and you give them the opportunity, they will strike.
Believe it or not, there are plenty of things homeowners do that give burglars the opportunities they seek. And oftentimes we do such things without thinking. That is what burglars are counting on. As opportunists, they prey on carelessness and the mistakes that are born from it.
Below are five ways Vivint Smart Home says you might be inviting burglars to pay your home visit. If you do any of them and have not been burglarized thus far, consider yourself lucky. It is only a matter of time unless you make some changes.
1. Leaving the Front Door Open
Crime statistics demonstrate year after year that the front door is the most common entry point for burglars. Why? Because it is often the easiest entry point. Burglars have no compunction about walking up to your front door and turning the handle to see if it’s locked.
If you have a habit of leaving the front door unlocked while you are home, you are inviting burglary. Getting into that habit makes it easier to forget to lock the door when you leave. The combination of an unlocked door and you not being home acts like a neon sign telling burglars to hit your house.
2. Leaving the Garage Door Open
Burglars can tell a lot about us by looking into our garages. For instance, peering into a garage and seeing a lot of expensive sports equipment tells a burglar that the property owner has money. There may be some very lucrative electronics, and even cash and jewelry, inside the house.
Another thing to consider is that most doors leading from the garage into the house are not very secure. Leaving your garage door open gives a burglar easy access. How is that for an open invitation?
3. Not Drawing the Shades
It is common for burglars to knock on the front door or ring the bell to determine if someone is home. That being the case, not drawing the shades gives a burglar an opportunity to quickly look inside the house on approach. What they see through the window might be an indication of how lucrative a target your home is.
4. Being Careless with the Trash
Believe it or not, experienced burglars look for clues in the trash. For example, a burglar might case the neighborhood during the week immediately following Christmas. They are looking for clues as to what the family might have purchased. They are looking for all kinds of product packaging, including boxes. If you make it easy for burglars to see what’s in your trash by not breaking down boxes and using opaque plastic bags, you’re throwing clues out there.
5. Being Careless with Social Media
Finally, burglars have discovered that social media is a gold mine for valuable information. People who allow their cell phones to check in at bars and restaurants are telegraphing their locations to the world. People who post their vacation photos in real time are telling burglars they are not home.
Burglars are opportunists. The most successful are also very good observers. They are students of human nature. That being the case, we don’t do ourselves any favors by presenting burglars with opportunities to victimize us. We would all do well to be a bit more vigilant about our privacy and security.
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