Yahoo Finance TikToker warns against this common celebratory Instagram post: 'That's freaking creepy'
Cathy Pedrayes likes to describe herself as “TikTok’s Mom Friend” and shares all sorts of safety videos on her account, which rack up hundreds of thousands to sometimes millions of views.
Pedrayes’s advice is practical and occasionally she brings up points that many viewers don’t think of — like in one TikTok where she warns people about having their house keys featured in photos.
“What not to post when you move into a new house,” Pedrayes writes at the beginning of the TikTok. “You’ve probably seen pictures of someone [who] bought a house and is holding their new key.”
It is such a common trend that even Pedrayes admits to having participated in. It’s all fun and games celebrating your new home — until someone makes a copy of your key.
(Note on the image above: Pedrayes wrote that she’s moved to a different house since this Instagram post, although at the time, even she didn’t know the dangers of posting photos of your keys.)
“There are computer programs that allow you to recreate the key,” she explains. “So treat your keys like any private info and don’t post it.”
The video racked up over 9 million views.
But some viewers didn’t believe Pedrayes. One person commented, “I think you’re overestimating how easy it is.”
In a different TikTok, a user shows exactly how simple it is to make a copy of a key using packing tape.
“Wow that’s freaking creepy there is literally an app for everything,” someone commented.
A 2014 Gizmodo article revealed you can make a copy of essentially any key you can photograph. The author of that piece even described having a folder of photos people had taken with their keys. The writer was able to decode the cuts of each one.
If you absolutely have to post a photo with a key, Pedrayes recommends just buying a fake key from a hardware store.
Check out this tiny house tour:
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