Cyclists warned over hi-tech thieves

Cyclists are being urged not to give too much information away as thieves may use technology to target valuable bikes.

The warning comes after Staffordshire Police revealed that some of the victims of bike theft in their area had been using websites and mobile phone apps to log their routes.

The technology allows users to view each other’s routes and track their rides. Some riders also share their routes on social networking sites such as twitter and facebook, inadvertently alerting would-be thieves to their addresses.

Thieves can use the technology to pinpoint homes and steal high-performance bikes from sheds, outbuildings, garages or cycles racks on cars.

Now Community Safety Partnerships in the area are warning to take precautions, which include:

• Check privacy settings of apps
• Check privacy settings on cycling smart phone applications and websites
• Avoid using twitter and Facebook to share routes
• Opt to start the tracking function away from home address and stop again before returning home