OK I know for some this falls under "common sense", but I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention here since I had never really thought about it.
On a site local to me, at least 5-6 cars have been stolen this month from random car meets. It seems as if theifs are lurking internet forums these days to see when car meets are going on.
Think about it. If you're looking to steal a car, you go to a random restaurant parking lot, and you don't know if the owner is walking back to his/her car, since you have no idea who owns what. The person could have just sat down, or could be leaving, cutting your time to steal a car.
Well, what if people posted what time they were going to sit down to eat, how many people would be eating (how much longer than normal it will take), and then posted pictures of themselves from other meets.......and just to top it off, posted all the car's modifications so you knew what was valuable.
That's in essence what you're doing when you post events online.
Also, some people have been followed home after the meets, and then someone steals their car a few nights later, but everyone has the same common factor of having been to a car show, so we're THINKING this is going on.
Now, what can we do about it? :confused
We've started with not posting about going out to eat. We simply post "Food after show" and then decide in person. This helps, but I'm afraid that it won't be a sure thing. Obviously we all make extra sure that no one follows us now, so hopefully we can detect this. I live in a gated community so it's a big easier for me to detect this than some of the students in apartments, or non gated communities.
Sorry for the negative post, but I wanted to share with you guys and hear your comments :frown
On a site local to me, at least 5-6 cars have been stolen this month from random car meets. It seems as if theifs are lurking internet forums these days to see when car meets are going on.
Think about it. If you're looking to steal a car, you go to a random restaurant parking lot, and you don't know if the owner is walking back to his/her car, since you have no idea who owns what. The person could have just sat down, or could be leaving, cutting your time to steal a car.
Well, what if people posted what time they were going to sit down to eat, how many people would be eating (how much longer than normal it will take), and then posted pictures of themselves from other meets.......and just to top it off, posted all the car's modifications so you knew what was valuable.
That's in essence what you're doing when you post events online.
Also, some people have been followed home after the meets, and then someone steals their car a few nights later, but everyone has the same common factor of having been to a car show, so we're THINKING this is going on.
Now, what can we do about it? :confused
We've started with not posting about going out to eat. We simply post "Food after show" and then decide in person. This helps, but I'm afraid that it won't be a sure thing. Obviously we all make extra sure that no one follows us now, so hopefully we can detect this. I live in a gated community so it's a big easier for me to detect this than some of the students in apartments, or non gated communities.
Sorry for the negative post, but I wanted to share with you guys and hear your comments :frown
