Not too long ago, any technology you owned was coveted by burglars. Your box TV, microwave, and any other appliance would be stolen if you inadvertently gave a thief the chance. However, a lot has changed over the past twenty years. There are now much easier targets.
Carrying a big screen TV from a house is significantly harder than snatching a phone from someone’s hand. Grabbing a laptop from a backpack takes a second. Home electronics are not the first thing you would think of protecting.
But that does not mean your electronics are safe. While homeowners insurance will cover your electronics, you never want to come home to an empty house. And, if you truly love tech, you will be concerned about your exciting new devices going missing.
Do criminals still target expensive tech though?
A Smaller Market
One of the problems with stealing expensive tech is that the thief will have a harder time actually getting any value from it. This is because trading in stolen smartphones has become common and most interested parties won’t know what to do with high-tech equipment. There are people who will be willing to buy it off the thief, but the market for it is smaller and they may have to look further afield.
As such, they may avoid taking it in the first place. It is just another way for them to get tracked through the internet of things and often not worth the effort.
Opportunistic Theft
Another factor to take into account is that most robberies are opportunistic. There are people who plan burglaries for weeks or months, but most of the time, a thief simply sees a chance and takes it. When you are not prepared for a robbery, you are not going to manage to take anything that is conspicuous.
Opportunistic thieves may also not have a history of theft, assault, or any other crime. They may have no idea how to sell the tech that they steal, whereas a phone or laptop does not require any underground knowledge.
A Growing Range of Portable Tech
However, modern tech is providing more opportunities for these kinds of thieves. As tech evolves, more and more portable devices are becoming ubiquitous. First, it was laptops, phones, and iPods. Then came tablets. Now we have VR devices like the Oculus Go which are expensive and easy to snatch.
Thieves may also take things like a Nintendo Switch which is made for its portability. Bluetooth speakers and expensive headphones are also easy targets.
The Shift
Burglars used to target big electronics because they were the most valuable items in a person’s home. Few items were as expensive as the TV – especially not those that could be carried away. The shift from those sorts of electronics happened because smaller electronics became far more valuable.
A high-end TV is still going to cost a lot more than your phone or laptop, but it is difficult to get away with and may not reap any real financial rewards for the thief. Unless they have planned an intricate burglary with a big van, they are going to take what fits in their hands or bags.
This becomes all the more relevant if you are away and your home is left empty. Make sure to put the smaller devices in a safe if possible and to lock up your house and set the alarm. While big electronics are not necessarily the target for most burglars, they will take them if you give them the chance.
While you don’t have to worry too much about robbers coming after your TV, your tech devices are still the most valuable targets for thieves.
