It’s not well known, but most burglaries actually happen during the daytime. Research has even suggested that the most common time for a break-in is between 10 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. This is because during that timeframe, children are usually at school and their parents are at work, and burglars naturally prefer to enter a house when there’s no one inside. It’s also easier to avoid being seen.
It’s useful to know that burglars aren’t masterminds, and they have pretty simple and obvious ways to gain entry instead of scheming elaborate plans. Still, their methods are versatile and subtle, so understanding them will be key to preventing break-ins. You’ll be a lot more prepared if you ask yourself first, “How do burglars break in?” This will be very helpful information once you start to create a preventative security strategy for your home.
# 1: Taking Advantage of Unsecured Windows and Doors
Once they’ve targeted a property, burglars often find their way inside through unlocked or unsecured doors and windows. It’s a subtle way of intruding on a home by simply relying on the carelessness of the homeowners. They usually do this covered by an illusion of normalcy, so if someone spots them, they won’t find it suspicious.
To protect your home from such a threat, you’ll need to be cautious and secure your locks. Regularly check and lock all your doors and windows, and consider reinforcing them with window sensors, double locks or even more advanced security systems.
# 2: Pretending to be Service Workers or Government Officials
Burglars are often masters of disguise and know how to deceive people effectively, sometimes even making use of uniforms or fake IDs. This way, they’re able to gain your trust, pretending to be service workers or government officials with the purpose of accessing your private space.
To avoid this scam, always verify the identity of any strangers who request to enter your home, especially if their arrival is unannounced. For this, you’ll also benefit a lot from installing a peephole or a video doorbell.
# 3: Taking Advantage of Routine Absence
Burglars are usually patient observers, and before they try to enter your home, they learn your daily routines, looking for the perfect moment when it’s empty. Any signs of an unattended home, such as piled mail or frequently drawn curtains, can act as an indication of an opportunity to break in.
To prevent this, try to disrupt your routine when it’s possible. For example, use light timers to simulate activity inside your house and ask any of your trustworthy neighbours to help you maintain the illusion that your home is occupied.
# 4: Applying Social Engineering
Most break-ins are a result of an opportunity, and nowadays, because information flows freely, burglars can make use of a new monitoring tool, which is social media. They can easily look through your life online, gathering insights into your habits and routines. Besides that, they can also overhear your conversations in public spaces, which will additionally help them form their break-in plans.
To prevent them from using your personal information, be very cautious of your online activity and be careful when you’re revealing personal information in public. Consider also adjusting your privacy settings for more protection of your social media presence.
# 5: Getting Around Inadequate Security Measures
Burglars are usually able to spot any weaknesses in your home security. For example, outdated locks and malfunctioning alarm systems will be easy to recognise for them. Because of this, they can identify any blind spots in your surveillance system and learn what areas of your home aren’t covered by motion detectors or cameras.
To deter them, consider investing in or updating your locks to higher-quality models and installing a high-tech alarm system. If you do that, make sure that your video surveillance covers all areas of your outdoor space, leaving burglars with no spots to hide in.
# 6: Forced Entry by Lock Picking
Sometimes, burglars replace subtlety with brute force and resort to forced entry through any vulnerable points of your home or picking your locks. Interestingly, most burglars won’t typically go to great lengths to enter your home but, instead, target easy entry points. Many of them have highly skilled hands, which has helped them master lock picking to perfection.
The most common easy entry points intruders use to enter a home include:
- Front door. 34% of burglars simply open the front door and enter a home.
- First-floor windows. 23% of burglars look for any open first-floor windows to enter a home.
- Back door. 22% of burglars enter a home right through the back door.
- Garage doors. 9% of burglars use the garage door to enter a home.
- Basement. 4% of burglars opt for the basement as an entry point to a home.
- Second-floor windows. A small 2% of burglars will dare to use any unlocked second-floor windows as an entry point to a home.
Additionally, one of the most common tools intruders use to break inside a home is a crowbar, which they can easily hide under their clothing and can use to quickly pry a window or a door open. It’s among one of the most used items in their toolkits. Some other common ones include ladders and any handyman tool that has been carelessly discarded in the yard.
To protect your home against this, lock replacement experts recommend reinforcing your doors, protecting your windows with security film and installing high-security locks that are resistant to picking. Take into account all the possible and obvious entry points to your home and make sure they are secured well.
Final Words
Understanding the tricks burglars use to gain access to your personal space will be your greatest defence against break-ins. Knowing that they rely on deception and manipulation, but also a few simple yet easily preventable methods, will enable you to provide better protection to your property. However, keep in mind that implementing only one preventative measure won’t be enough, and you’ll need to develop a holistic security strategy that protects any possible entry point on your property. Consider also creating a neighbour watch network so you can rely on the protection of a trustworthy community.