Isreal Hyman and his wife were no doubt looking forward to their vacation a few weeks ago. Hyman, the proprietor of IzzyVideo.com in Mesa, Arizona, shared his plans with his 2,000+ followers on Twitter.
Accounts indicate that Hyman had Tweeted “Preparing to head out of town,” and then updated his followers by telling them “Another 10 hours of driving ahead.” We at the Internet Patrol couldn’t find these in his Twitter stream, but he did in fact say, on May 24th, “We made it to Kansas City in one piece. We’re visiting @noellhyman’s family. Can’t wait to get some good video while we’re here. :-)”
The point is that clearly, at some point, Isreal Hyman had let his followers know that he and his wife were headed out of state.
While they were away, their home was burgled, and thousands of dollars of electronics equipment was stolen.
Hyman posits that perhaps his Twitter messages had tipped the thiefs off.
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“My wife thinks it could be a random thing, but I just have my suspicions,” Hyman is quoted as saying. “They didn’t take any of our normal consumer electronics.” What they took was his Mac and other video editing equipment.
Now, it could just be coincidence. But as experts point out, no doubt Hyman would never have left a message on his answering machine saying “We’re out of town.” And people typically take measures to ensure that their mail and newspapers don’t pile up.
But when it comes to social media such as Twitter and Facebook, people think nothing of telling the world where they are – and, more importantly, where they aren’t.
Explains Lee Struble, a security expert with the Monroe Community College, “I’m amazed at how many people get on there and say they’re going on vacation,” adding that, as with Facebook (and connecting with old friends), “… they know where you live or can find out pretty easily, they can do a Google search.” And use Google maps.
Is this what happened with Hyman? Likely we will never know. However, regardless, it’s a wake up call: think twice before sharing some things online.
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