Facebook and Twitter users could face bigger insurance premiums because they are inadvertently telling 'digital burglars' when to target their homes.

 Are you at home? If not, don't tell Twitter or Facebook 
Insurer Legal & General warns that users of social networking sites are posting personal details like their address online - and then updating the sites with details of when they are holiday.
It is an open invitation to savvy burglars to head to the address for easy pickings, a report commissioned by the company warns.
The Digital Criminal report says our need to inform our friends of every mundane detail of our lives is storing up trouble.
"Given that updates and tweets are relatively public conversations, the danger about sharing updates about prolonged absences from the house with digital criminals is clear," the report says.
"Yet many of us are happy to update our online friends about our holiday plans, letting prospective burglars know how long we are likely to be away and when the house will be empty."
Websites such as Google Earth are making burglars' lives much easier, the report warns.
Once they have identified a user's address, they can use the internet mapping service to case the property. 

Old Compton Street

Burglars could use Street View


"You can tell an awful lot about a person from the visual identity of the house they live in - which is one of the reasons why Google Earth and Street View are so potentially dangerous," the report says.


The report was compiled by reformed criminal Michael Fraser of the BBC's Beat the Burglar.


Legal & General says the insurance industry is monitoring the risk - and premiums may rise accordingly.

"The insurance industry is aware that with increasing acceptance of social media the standard risk indicators may need to be reviewed," the report concludes.

"Any new risks in patterns of crime and claims are continually monitored to ensure the implications do not impact viable business models... and there continues to be fair pricing of premiums for consumers."