Canobolas Local Area Command crime unit Senior Constable Greg Treavors warned people not to post pictures online while on holidays and ensure phone GPS trackers were turned off. 

“There are certain people who patrol Facebook pages looking for that information,” Senior Constable Treavors said.

Posting statuses and pictures away from home can alert would-be thieves that the home is vacant, he says.

Thieves can hack social media accounts and can learn where a person lives based on the GPS tracker on the victim’s phone.

“If you want to post pictures, do it when you come home and if you really want to tag your self at certain places turn your tracker on, tag yourself at the location, but remember to turn it off again,” he said. 

Senior Constable Treavors said it was unlikely that a person with hundreds of Facebook friends knew each of them personally, and knew each person could be trusted with personal information such as holiday plans. 

He reminded Orange residents to check security and privacy settings on their social media accounts regularly and ensure updates could only be viewed by trusted people. 

According to research by GIO Insurance, one in seven people admitted their social media status updates were open to the whole social media community and about a third of people updated their social media accounts with upcoming holiday plans.

nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au