Note to Self: Don't Tweet Vacation Plans
Man blames Twitter for home robbery
By SAJID FAROOQ
Updated 12:30 PM CST, Tue, Jun 2, 2009
Israel Hyman learned the hard way to be careful what he tells his Twitter friends.
Recently Hyman went on a family vacation, but not before "tweeting" -- broadcasting a message on Twitter -- about it to his 2,002 closest Internet friends. The owner of a small podcasting company had a little surprise waiting for him when he came back home.
His house had been ransacked of thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment. Now all of his Twitter friends are suspects in the case.
"Everyone of them that reads the tweets that I send out knows that I was heading out of town," he told a local Arizona television station. "And then I have it set up that Twitter goes to Facebook so it could be someone I know on Facebook."
The owner of a video podcasting company often uses the social networking site to brag about his expensive equipment, including his MacBook Pro and fancy 23-inch flat panel displays. Those were what the robbers took.
"Interesting that the thief left our Xbox 360 and the Wii," he tweeted after the robbery.
Mr. Hyman says he will continue to use Twitter despite his bad luck. He might want to consider taking his personal information, including his phone number, pictures of his children and his trips off of his profiles.
"It's not something I really want to stop doing," he said. "I think probably in the future though I won't be announcing when I'm heading out of town."
First Published: Jun 1, 2009 6:40 PM CST
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