Popularity of social networking sites leads to more home burglaries

Homeowners who publish vacation plans or certain other types of information on Facebook and other networking sites unwittingly may set themselves up to be burglarized.

Q. In August, I innocently placed a note on my Facebook page that said our family would be taking an out-of-town vacation over Labor Day weekend. When we came back, we found thieves had stolen thousands of dollars in jewelry and electronics from our house! The police detective who took our report said there's a big problem now with thieves checking local Facebook pages to see which people are going on vacation and then looting their homes while they are away. Would you please pass this information along to your readers so they won't suffer the same fate we did?A. I'm happy to oblige. Law-enforcement officials across the nation say a growing number of cyber-savvy thieves are perusing Facebook and other social-networking sites to look for users who say when they will be out of town and then burglarize the home before the residents return.About 18 percent of all social-network users post their upcoming travel plans, according to cyber-researching firm Identity Theft 911. Doing so is an open invitation to burglars, especially if the owner's address or phone number also appears on the site.Experts say users also should be cautious when publishing photos of their homes and personal property on networking sites. A photo of your family standing in front of a palatial abode or your kids enjoying the new plasma TV may make your house particularly attractive to thieves.Q. We live near a park that's a few blocks to the west, and also a privately owned cemetery that's a mile to the east. The park has a really ugly statue of a Civil War hero on a horse, and the horse has its front legs turned up, like it's fighting. The cemetery has an equally hideous statue on the man's actual grave, but the bronze horse is standing on all four feet. Is it true that the government gets to decide which kind of tombstones or grave markers can be placed on a burial space?A. The government has the legal authority to decide which statues appear in publicly owned parks. They cannot dictate how a tombstone or other monument appears atop a burial site in a privately owned cemetery, although the cemetery's owner can.If the two statues honor the same man, though, something should be changed. According to custom, the statue of a rider whose horse has two legs up indicates that the soldier died in battle. If the horse has only one leg up, it means the vet died from combat-related injuries.The statue of a soldier sitting atop a horse that is on "all fours" shows that the man or woman served in the military but died of natural causes.Q. About two months ago, you wrote that President Barack Obama had signed a bill that would make mortgage applications and disclosure forms easier to understand. I am refinancing now, but I still had to fill out all the same old paperwork that I did when I refinanced two years ago. What is the status of the reform plan?A. Nothing moves quickly or smoothly in Washington. But a milestone in the reform efforts was reached just last week, when Obama named longtime Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren to establish the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the bill that was signed into law in July.Warren gets high marks from several consumer-friendly organizations, including the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. But her persistent criticism of unfair lending practices has made her an "enemy" of several banks and other Wall Street institutions - which probably means that she's a good selection to head the new agency that will represent homebuyers and other borrowers in the future.The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, won't really have any "regulatory teeth" until next July. That's when it will officially swing into action after a 10-month setup process.The agency will have broad power to curb unfair practices in the mortgage-lending and credit-card industries, as well as other types of consumer loans issued by banks and even check-cashing companies. It recently began holding hearings to solicit expert opinions aimed at creating a simplified mortgage disclosure form that spells out loan terms in "plain English."The law that created the CFPB also will allow consumers to get both a free credit score and a free credit report each year. Currently, only the reports are free: Consumers must pay about $15 to get their actual score or sign up for an expensive credit-monitoring program.The agency is also expected to curb or even ban so-called "liar loans," which have allowed many borrowers to obtain mortgages without the lender performing a thorough investigation of the applicant's reported income or ability to repay. It also will be charged with cracking down on the outrageous prepayment-penalty fees that many banks charge when a loan is paid off early because the home was sold or refinanced.bull; For the booklet "Straight Talk About Living Trusts," send $4 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 2960, Culver City, CA 90231-2960.#169; 2010, Cowles Syndicate Inc.