In-laws and Facebook

[Lollypop27]

This isn’t a in law bashing thread at all.

My in laws have a great life. They are both retired and have a joint hobby. Their hobby is very active and they go away nearly every weekend and at least for a week a month too.

They joined Facebook about 3 years ago. Every time they go away they tag themselves where they are and say how long they are away for. Their Facebook pages aren’t private. I’m not on Facebook but I can see their pages if I don’t log in. (Does that mean it’s public?)

I voiced my concern to them today about advertising that their house is empty. I also said i wasn’t sure but it may void their insurance if there was a break in. Maybe they should check with the insurance company. It did not go down well. They are offended that I criticised and have the hump. We haven’t fallen out before and I don’t think it’s a serious falling out it’s just they don’t like to be told anything.

Did I do the right thing? Is the insurance thing true? Aibu to not apologise? I wasn’t rude at all and it was said to them out of concern.

I agree with you. It’s the height of stupidity to advertise you’re not home!! They are twats.

you were right

In general I don't think it invalidates their insurance, but they'd need to check their policy to know for sure.

Hopefully they'll calm down and take your advice!

But is their address on Facebook or pictures of the outside of their house? If not it would very very unlikely that they will get broken into.

We got broken into once because someone sat outside our house and watched our movements for a couple of days apparently then broke in when we had gone out on a Saturday for our usual coffee.

Insurance companies will not avoid insurance just because someone said they went on holiday on Facebook! For a start how would they know it was that and not someone watching the house (which is far more common) ???

It's just tech paranoia. Unless you've done really stupid stuff like publicly list your address, bank details and actual personal info no one is going to get targeted from tags or photos because theres absolutely no guarantee that those things are actually genuine. You can tag places you aren't currently at, you can put photos up and statuses up after the event.... no criminal is actually going to take the massive gamble and rob your house based on a photo or status or tag. It would be ridiculously risky.

Depends on your tone of voice and body language OP. It might not be what you said but how you said it.
And if your not aware yourself if the posts are private or public you certainly shouldn’t be lecturing anyone.

You were right. They’re embarrassed I expect.

Can you suggest they post once they are home? "Just back from 1 week in Lanzarote"..etc. If they need to share

IMO UANBU

www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/social-media-post-invalidate-insurance-burglary/amp/

It would be very easy for someone to find out where they live. All it takes is a Facebook friend to mention to someone that 'Brendan and Julie are away again for the weekend, they're never off the road' and that someone passes on the info. It's a stupid thing to do. I don't tell many people if we go on holiday, let alone post it all over social media. Even my kids know not to. You wer right to say it to them. At least they have been warned now and it's up to them to heed the information or not.

If the posts were private op wouldn't be able to access them as she is not on Facebook herself and therefore is looking them up publicly.

You were right, it's a terrible idea to announce that you're away. Even if they haven't put their address online, someone in their friend's list might know where they live and take advantage.

You wouldn't want to stick a note on your front door that says 'I'm away in France for two weeks' so I wouldn't do the same on Facebook.

If they really have to advertise it to the world, I think they should do it once they're back from their trip, 'Just had the best two weeks in France'. It's better to be cautious.

Insurance companies will not avoid insurance just because someone said they went on holiday on Facebook!
I disagree. Most insurance companies are slippery sods and will use anything to get out of a claim. It's not worth taking a chance but, at least, get them to lock down their account so it's private.

They sound very odd and frankly a bit rude. You were trying to help them and were kind to be concerned. You’re also dead right about the risk. Something along these lines happened to my PILs (it was their car that was stolen from home).

Thank you for the replies. To the pp who said maybe it was the tone of my voice, I didn’t say it rude at all. They have been my in laws for nearly 23 years and never a cross word.

I just worry about them advertising it to the world that they are away. I don’t know if they have put their address on but they have tagged themselves as being at home before. Dh is going to look if the tag is for their address. My Dh said that they are very active on Facebook and seem to have so many friends who they don’t really know. - sat next to someone at a christening for an hour and added them on Facebook kind of thing.

Do they have date of birth on there easily visible, too? They need to boost privacy, and take off anything that makes ID theft easier.
Would they give full name, DOB and easy to decipher clues about address to any randomer in the street? If not, why do it online?

They seem to enjoy the bragging, just let them know they can still brag all they like but to make sure they're posting to friends only instead of public.

Yes it can invalidate their insurance.
Why should insurance pay out when the householders have advertised the fact they are always away?

You were definitely right; they’re possibly a bit embarrassed as once someone tells you it’s fairly obvious. No idea about the insurance thing though