Insurance Hike May Follow Facebook Burglaries

Website Confused.com has warned Facebook, Twitter and other social media users that insurance companies will start charging them more for home cover.

The warning resulted from reports that a burglary ring in Nashua, New Hampshire, in the US, targeted people who used the geolocation features of Facebook. This told the felons that they were away from home and ripe for a visit.

Facebook Denies Responsibility

The police caught the burglars after they had broken into 50 homes, stealing $100,000 (£64,000) worth of goods.

Gareth Kloet, head of home insurance at Confused.com said: “What’s happened in the US could be the start of a worrying trend and if insurance providers see it as a potential risk, you can bet your home contents on the fact they’ll start pricing for it.

In this particular case, Facebook claimed to have contacted the Nashua police. According to a Facebook spokesperson, the police said that only one of the burglaries had any Facebook link.

The victim, a Facebook friend of one of the arrested thieves, had posted that they were leaving town on a trip. It had nothing to do with Facebook Places, the spokesperson said.

Facebook to blame?

Maybe Confused.com is a little premature in stirring up some press coverage because until the case comes to court the Facebook link will be in question. Whatever the outcome, however, the website has made a valid point.

“Something like Places on Facebook broadcasts people’s locations on a platform that has 500 million users – you don’t need to be an insurance provider to see the risk that poses. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see rises of up to 10 percent for social media users in the future,” Kloet speculated.

He feels that insurance providers will start to take online activities into account when they are assessing claims and customers may find their claim declined if negligence is suspected.

Confused.com gives the following advice:

• Never post your home address or other personal information such as your home phone number on social networking sites
• Don’t follow people you don’t know on social networks and block others from seeing your profile if you don’t know them
• Turn off location-based services on Twitter and Facebook unless you absolutely need to use them