Computer-savvy crooks across the country are cashing in – thanks to social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter!
Millions of people in the U.S. use the popular Web sites to stay in touch with friends and keep people up-to-date on their lives – but they’re also making themselves an easy mark for bad guys who are targeting homeowners after they reveal they’re going away on vacation, warn experts.
“It’s a growing problem,” Internet crime expert Rob Enderle told The ENQUIRER. “Just be careful what information you disclose – you never know who’s reading.”
In Alabama, cops arrested 19-year-old Spencer Collin Shivers and 20-year-old Tyler Austin Glass, dubbed The Facebook Bandits. In a 10-day period in July, police say they hit five homes to heist jewelry, TV sets, computers, cell phones, guns and other items.
In every case, the victims – one was a cop – were either friends or “friends of friends” on Facebook.
In every case, they’d told the virtual world they were on vacation. The same thing happened in Arkansas when the tiny town of Lonoke was hit by an epidemic of six burglaries in as many weeks.
The one thing they had in common – all the homes were empty while the owners were away on vacation, and all the victims had revealed their vacation plans on Facebook.
