A cycling enthusiast had his entire collection of racing bikes stolen after thieves tracked down his home using routes he had posted on fitness app Strava.
Adam Jones, from Barling, Essex, was shocked when his garage was broken into and five top-of-the-range bikes worth more than £12,500 were nabbed.
The 51-year-old is certain that the criminals specifically targeted him after he publicly posted results of rides on Strava - an app widely used in the cycling and running communities for people to compare their times.
Adam Jones, from Barling, Essex, had £12,500 worth of bike equipment stolen from his garage after posting on fitness app Strava
The PR consultant believes that he was targeted because his route times were relatively fast and the thieves came to the conclusion that he was using expensive bikes.
He is now warning other cyclists to stay vigilant and ensure they have their Strava settings on 'private' - or at least make sure they do no record their routes until they are further away from home.
He said: 'After the break-in I was thinking it had to have been somebody who knows me - it felt so targeted and very personal.
'I was starting to look over my shoulder and thinking 'who could it be'.
The PR consultant believes that he was targeted because his route times were fast
'But then after speaking to one of the cycling shops here the chap said 'are you quick and are you on Strava?'
'I had no idea that what criminals are doing is working out where people are cycling and on what routes, then using that to track where they live.
'They are making the correlation between people posting quick times and probably having the better, equipment.
'I was so shocked when I realised what had happened, it must have been like a treasure chest to whoever broke in.'
The lifelong cycling enthusiast believes criminals are even using social media to spot when people post pictures of expensive new bikes.
The 51-year-old also admitted to posing with his brand new and expensive bikes and posting them on social media
'We are inadvertently using social media as a shop window for the thieves.
'I put a gormless picture of me on Facebook with my new BMC bike - it's like an advert saying 'come and steal me'.
'People are riding round on bikes worth six, eight, even ten thousand pounds so it's big money for the criminals.
'I just hadn't made the connection of what was happening and of course since the bikes were stolen all my friends were saying 'did you have your privacy settings 'on', on Strava?'
Adam said his wife Tracy, 47, had been left fearful after the break-in at their home.
'The people who broke in selected the bikes they wanted so knew exactly what they were doing.
He has warned cyclists to be careful because 'social media is a shop window for the thieves'
'They left Tracy's bike behind and have taken the ones with the value.'
Police told Adam they have seen a growth in the number of bike thefts in recent years.
He believes the number of so-called 'Mamils' - middle aged men in lycra - is helping to drive the criminality because of the vast amounts people are happy to shell out on the specialist bikes.
The thieves stole Adam's Specialized Tarmac bike, valued at £1,500, his Inifinito CV, worth about £4,000, a Dolan Scala time trial bike, worth about £2,000, a Bianchi Oltre XR2 worth £2,5000 and a BMC Roadmachine, valued at about £2,700.
He hopes other cyclists will not make the same mistake.
'There are a lot of new riders out there with a lot of gear - I just want my story to help others from having their treasured items being pinched.
'My advice would be to check your privacy settings on Strava, beef up the security of your prized possessions and make sure that your insurance is fully up to date.
Police told Adam they have seen a growth in the number of bike thefts in recent years
'My time trial bike isn't something you can ride to the shops on, to get a packet of crisps and a Pot Noodle.
'So it seems that whoever took the bikes knows that they can sell them on to a specific market.'
Essex Police are investigating the overnight theft which Adam and Tracy discovered on Wednesday morning.
They said: 'We are investigating following a burglary in Barling Magna where five bicycles worth a total of a five-figure sum were taken.
'It took place between 11.59pm on September 18 and 6am on September 19.
A spokesperson from Strava said: 'Strava hasn't seen any verified cases of bicycle theft related to our platform.'
Link textbacklinkexchanges.com
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/thieves-steal-cyclists-entire-collection-of-specialist-racing-bikes-after-he-posted-on-app-strava/
News Pictures Thieves steal cyclists entire collection of specialist racing bikes 'after he posted on app Strava'
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