Thieves, cons and scammers may be watching you online

— -- You're on summer vacation, enjoying time away. But at home, burglars are making quick work of your house. They've read your social-networking updates and know that you're out of town.

Google Street View helped them scope your house. The pictures of your home's interior you posted online, say on Flickr.com, help them find high-ticket items quickly.

Sound far-fetched? Such events are becoming increasingly common. A careless Twitter message recently led to the burglary of an Arizona man's house.

So, before you leave town, take precautions. More information about you is available than you realize. And those Facebook, MySpace and Twitter friends? They may be wolves in sheep's clothing.

Use care in what you share

Social-networking sites are designed for sharing plans with your friends and family, but posting information about upcoming trips is unwise.

Instead, you can send information in private messages. Tell recipients not to mention your vacation online.

You probably trust most of the people on your friends' list, but your information may be available outside of your network. That means virtually anyone can see it. They can then piece together other information gleaned from the Internet.

Likewise, you may want to share vacation photos, but this lets everyone know you're not home.

That doesn't mean you can't upload photos from the road. Just restrict who can see the photos. And watch out for GPS data that may be embedded in them.

Photos of your home may be online

Look at photos that you have posted from a stranger's perspective. It may have seemed like a good idea to show off your 50-inch HDTV, but now it is an incentive to thieves. They'll know where to look for the set. Remove or hide these pictures.

You may find photos of your home's interior on Zillow.com. Maybe you uploaded them yourself. Or, someone else could have done it for you. Claim your house on Zillow and remove any interior photos.

On Zillow, you'll need to register first. Then, navigate to the page for your home. Click Add/Edit Photos above the photos. On the next page, you'll see the photos. Click Remove on the ones you want to remove. Check that you agree to Zillow's terms. Click Save Changes.

Google's Street View (maps.google.com) is another concern. Check your house on Street View. If you don't like what you see, have your home removed. Click on the "Report a problem" link.

Consider removing the picture if you have a luxury car in the driveway. Valuable grills or other items may also be visible.

Other areas of your online life pose concern

Maybe you're selling items on Etsy.com. Sites like Etsy have vacation features. Your sales are suspended while you're on vacation.

To suspend an item, it must be listed for sale. Then, go back into edit mode. Don't go to step 5 and click finish. When you navigate from the page, the item will be made inactive.

This is incredibly handy. You won't lose sales while on vacation, but it could tell others that you're away. Past customers may still have your address. So, use these vacation features cautiously.

List the sites you frequent. Decide what action you need to take before leaving on vacation. Remember, there's no need to broadcast to the Internet community that you won't be home for an extended time.

Security gear helps

Consider tools to help your home appear inhabited. Buy timers for your light switches. Leave a radio running — or put it on a timer, too. You'll find such timers at local home improvement stores.

Finally, consider security cameras for your home. These let you keep tabs on things from anywhere on any browser. Many will alert you when motion is detected. You can stop a burglary with a quick call to the police.

Consider Logitech's Indoor Video Security Master System ($300). It requires no network. Yet, you can view footage from Windows smart phones or the Web.

It includes one camera and is easy to set up. Add additional indoor or outdoor cameras for $230. Logitech is one of the sponsors of my Komando.com Daily Spring Stimulus Giveaway.

For more stringent demands, consider cameras from Axis Communications. They start around $250 and go up. They're more suitable for businesses.

But a security system isn't enough today. The information you post online could compromise your property. Be careful about what you put out there.

—

Kim Komando hosts the nation's largest talk radio show about computers and the Internet. To get the podcast or find the station nearest you, visit www.komando.com/listen. To subscribe to Kim's free e-mail newsletters, sign up at www.komando.com/newsletters. Contact her at gnstech@gannett.com.