Theft often happens in ways you don’t immediately know about or discover, but it still costs you money. While most home security tools and companies focus on protecting your assets inside the home and the property around it, you also receive services into your home that can be pilfered without your knowledge. These include your cable services, Internet and electricity. Utility theft potentially leads to service disruption along with higher costs on a monthly basis.

If your Wi-Fi service gets hacked, your home computers and the information on them is susceptible to compromise. It is in your best interests to monitor your utility hookups and usage to ensure that your services don’t get abused.

How It Happens

Electricity theft is often a complex process. Marijuana growers often divert electricity from utility poles and power boxes for use in their growing operations. Thieves sometimes run wires from a hollowed-out utility pole and run them underground. Electricity theft is also rampant in apartment complexes during heatwaves, where the use of air conditioning drastically increases power usage and cost. Tenants with electrical knowledge run power from a different electrical box to their own unit, drawing power they don’t have to pay for if they don’t get caught. Unfortunately, those costs then get billed to you if they used your box.

Cable theft happens when someone uses your satellite dish or cable box/outlet to divert cable to their own residence. It is a federal offense, and it becomes more common as cable prices increase.

This often results in lower quality service to your own home as well.

Wi-Fi theft happens when someone from a nearby location utilizes your wireless network from their own home or vehicle. This is more likely if your network is not password protected. Your network can only handle so much bandwidth at a time, so someone on your network is likely to slow down your own service. It also leaves your computer systems susceptible to malware and data theft.

How to Prevent It

Periodically inspect your cable box, utility box and any nearby utility poles for any signs of extra wiring or tampering. If you see something unusual, do not try to unhook anything yourself. Contact the company who handles that service and report the unusual activity. They can then inspect everything themselves and make any necessary repairs.

Make sure your Wi-Fi network is password protected, and that the password is not easily guessable. The password needs to be at least five characters long, include at least one number and one capital letter. Change the password every few weeks to help keep the network secure. Check the data LED on your router as well when you know your household is not using the network. If the data LED is still blinking frequently, it indicates the network is being used from outside the house.

Contact the necessary company when you suffer any unusual service interruptions or slowdowns. This helps to repair your service as quickly as possible, while also potentially spoiling the theft of data or electricity.

Monitor your electricity bill. Notify the utility company if you notice any unusual bill increases. The costs typically goes up when you use the air conditioning more, but any sudden spikes in cost when usage has remained the same is suspicious.

Alertness and diligence are your best weapons against data, cable and utility theft. Companies are starting to use encrypted signals and more advanced service boxes to make tampering more difficult. However, they also transfer the costs they incur from theft onto their paying customers, which is another reason why preventing theft is important. Communication is also essential when an anomaly is discovered, so you don’t get accidentally blamed for it.