Personally, I’m not a big bumper sticker person, but I’ve always liked those nice ones that say "COEXIST," or the college and high school stickers perfect for proud parents!
They’re a great way to share your feelings with the world, and find people who agree with you, as we saw with this Army girlfriend who got a sweet note for her patriotic bumper sticker.
That said, I’ve always avoided them, since they can occasionally get you in trouble. And I’m not just talking about the "political debate" kind of trouble — I’m talking about seriously scary criminal activity.
In fact, one of the most innocent and family-friendly bumper stickers around has the potential to put you in a scary spot, though almost nobody realizes it.
I’m talking about those adorable, ever-present "My Family" stickers, with little stick figures representing each member of the family.
In recent years, those stickers have become totally customizable, which sounds great, until you realize the unintentional signal you could be sending to criminals…
Read on below to learn more about the scary unintended consequences of these cute car decals.
These popular family stickers are one of the most common car decals around!
It's easy to see why; with their cute, stylized figures, they seem like the perfect way to celebrate how proud you are of your loved ones.
Nothing could be cuter or more innocent than one of these stickers.
Unfortunately, bad guys have found a devious way to take advantage of these family-friendly decals.
This graphic from Search and Rescue Ohio helps to illuminate the issue with family car decals.
It shows a soldier dad, a mom who likes gardening, a son who plays football, a little girl, and a small dog.
The graphic then goes on to illustrate what dangerous information this broadcasts.
As these stickers have gotten more and more popular, folks have started to customize their stickers more and more.
Some of the companies that make the stickers do their best to cater to every possible family type.
Now, proud parents can get custom stickers showing how many kids they have, what kind of pets they keep, and what the favorite activities of each family member are.
At first, we were stumped; how could such a sweet display of family pride possibly attract criminal attention?
Law enforcement agencies have an answer to that question.
The issue with these stickers is that they give too much information away about your family, in the very public setting of your back windshield.
A lot of the decals are customized to show the professions of the parents.
If Dad is in the Army, a bad guy driving behind you suddenly knows that the man of the house might be away on deployment.
Similarly, a teenage football player is probably at practice after school, a mom who grooms dogs probably works 9 to 5, and a family that only keeps cats might not have as much security.
With all that information, a would-be burglar can get all sorts of info about your family.
They may be able to find your address on the car, depending on your permits and stickers, or they can simply follow the car to figure out where you live.
Add that to the information that they glean from your decals, and you may be accidentally painting a target onto your back windshield.
If you never knew the possible dangers of these popular bumper stickers, make sure to SHARE with friends and family to warn them about this scary criminal strategy!
