Like her or loath her, you can’t fail to have notice the media storm this week surrounding the £8.7m theft of Kim Kardashian’s jewellery. Stolen at gun point in Paris from a gang of masked thieves, it was by all accounts a terrifying ordeal.

Source: Instagram
And of course the media have had a field day over the incident. Primarily over whether her over-exposed life online contributed in some way to the theft. (Kim has 84 million followers on Instagram and 48 million on Twitter).
Here’s the latest headline from the Daily Mail to give you some idea of the media frenzy.
A quote from People magazine goes further
“Kim’s in shock and blaming herself. She’s tearing herself up that she Snapchatted the ring so much and wore it all the time. This incident is making her question everything. How she dresses, what she does,” a source close to the Kardashian family tells PEOPLE.
Not many of us are in the position to walk around with a $4m dollar ring on our finger and I don’t know about you, I certainly don’t have 48 million twitter followers, but scale it down to your life and your jewellery and it might be worth asking yourself if there are lessons to be learnt from this.
The fact is so many of us do share so much of our lives on social media and that might well include pictures of your own precious engagement ring or prized watch.
There are unsavoury characters out there who do and will notice things online so how do you make sure you’re not spotted as a potential target for a house break-in.
As insurance brokers we could tell you to never post a picture online but this is 2016 and social media is so ingrained in so many of our lives that it might be unrealistic. But we can offer some advice to keep your exposure down.
Tips to keep your jewellery safe when using social media
- Check all your privacy settings on your social media accounts on a regular basis. Updates happen regularly and settings do change.
- Think about which social media platforms to use and when. Some are completely open platforms and all the world can see what you post. Others will limit the post just to the people you want to see them.
- Thieves can use location data to determine when you are out of town, putting your home and belongings at risk. (There have been recent incidents of claims being disputed by insurance companies when the social media accounts have clearly showed the insured publicising their time on holiday leaving their property exposed). Again think about the social media platform you use when you are away. Some will automatically post your location. Others, such as facebook enable you to turn off location settings for social media apps and photos. This may prevent you from checking in at different locations, but it will also keep people from knowing exactly where you are at any given time.
- Avoid posting personal information such as your address and phone number.
- It sounds obvious but think about what photos you post and what is shown in them. Perhaps cover your jewellery up in some way if you don’t want it to be seen. If you have just got engaged and you want to show a close up of your ring, we won’t deny you that moment of celebration but perhaps just post it online where you know only friends will see it, not the rest of the world.
But one tip is to make sure you do take some close up photos of all your jewellery for your own records and keep a copy of them somewhere safe (back up to a cloud or hard copy in a fireproof cabinet). So if the worst happens and they do get lost or stolen, you at least have a clear photograph to help with your claim for replacement.
Enjoy your jewellery, don’t be afraid to wear it but be sensible about social media. Make sure you have the right insurance in place that covers all your jewellery both in and out of the home. For more information on insurance or for a personalised quote, please get in touch with us at Executive Home Cover.
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