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Users of social networks are giving away vital information about themselves and their whereabouts that is being used by criminals to create a list of targets, according to a new report by the British-based insurance firm Legal & General.

The report "The Digital Criminal," found 38 percent of users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter have posted status updates detailing their vacation plans and 33 percent have posted status updates saying they are away for a weekend.

In addition, 23 percent of social media users have discussed vacation plans "wall-to-wall" outside the privacy of their own page and 17 percent have reported seeing people’s residential addresses posted on pages that can be seen by strangers.

"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that burglars are using social networks to develop relationships with people to identify likely targets," said Michael Fraser, reformed burglar and star of the BBC’s "Beat the Burglar" series.

"I call it ‘internet shopping for burglars’. It is incredibly easy to use social networking sites to target people, and then scope out more information on their actual home using other internet sites like Google Street View, all from the comfort of the sofa."

Other findings include:

• Nearly half, 48% of respondents have no worries about the security or privacy of social networking sites.
• Of all social networking sites, Facebook creates the most concern with 46% of respondents feeling that there are some security and privacy risks.
• The younger you are, the more likely you are to give information away concerning your whereabouts, with nearly two-thirds, 64% of 16-24 year olds sharing their holiday plans – which could be a cause for concern for parents.
• 34% of respondents have seen somebody else’s phone number posted on their social networking profile.
• Nearly one in ten, 9% of respondents have included their own phone number and 5% have included their address in the personal information section of social networking sites visible to friends.
• Some people are sharing mobile numbers and addresses directly with strangers: 6% have written their phone number and 3% have written their address "wall-to-wall" or on pages open to those who are not accepted contacts.  
• Men are more blas about personal information – 13% have included their mobile number on their profile compared with just 7% of women and 9% of men have included their address compared with just 4% of women.
• 70% of users think that social media sites are a great place to share photos of their cool new purchases and presents.

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