Confused.com Burglary Experiment

By Faye Oakey on Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Confused.com, the insurance comparison site ran a social experiment to highlight common mistakes with home security and raise the question, ‘are you an easy target for burglars?’. 19% of the UK does not have home and contents insurance cover.

Over 600 people entered the competition, where the entrants were initially asked to spot clues in a video and submit which town or city they thought it pointed to, see here:

The members of public with the fastest correct responses were invited to take part in the experiment to play burglar for the day and win one of the UK’s most stolen items such as iPads, Kindles and TV’s. Watch the video of the experiment:

Sharon Flaherty, head of PR and content at Confused.com said, “With this campaign we were looking to create something immersive that demonstrated very clearly the importance of having home and contents insurance. We wanted to demonstrate that even members of the public with no burgling experience can gain access to a house and be in and out within minutes having stolen high value or sentimental items, and came up with this unique way to do so.

“In order to make it as authentic as possible, the contestants knew very little about the experience, something that was very important as we wanted to gain the insight of a security expert who could analyse the movements of the contestants and also give tips regarding home security. Interestingly, John Humphries said that the contestant who had been burgled was perhaps more at home in this experiment, as its clear that he now understands just what a burglar is looking for and where. I only hope those watching this don’t have to experience a burglary just to appreciate how devastating it can be.”

They followed up with a video by John Humphries a security expert, giving his professional opinion on the burglaries and giving advice on how to protect your home from burglary: