Home invasions spike on Fridays, says insurance company

Employees aren't the only people who love Fridaysit's also your local thief's favourite day of the week to break into your home, according to national insurerAvivaCanada.

• Night home invasions prompt Calgary police warning

Aviva analyzed their data and found the number of home burglaries goes up dramatically in the summer months, with August being the worst.

Wayne Ross,the vice president of claims,says a lot of Canadians travel in the summer and thieves are convicts of opportunity.

"Typically they will scope out your home, they follow your patterns, and when you leave, away they go," he said.

Regionally Quebec has the most amount of break-ins and Ross is at a loss to explain why or why it takes top spot year after year.

So is there anything you can do?

Ross says there's a number of tips.

Tips to stay safe

A 24-hour guarded alarm system is best, if you can afford it, or consider upgrading your locking mechanisms on doors and windowsdeadbolts being the most preferable.

When you're away on vacation, consider the following:

• Put your inside lights on timers, so it seems like there is a presence.
• Have someone pick up your newspaper and flyers, and park a car in the driveway.
• Stay awayfrom social media.
• Do not put your vacation plans on the internet.

Ross says you never know who isgoing to see that information and then put two and two together.

"You tell a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend that you're going away to the Bahamas for the next two weeks,it's a perfect invitation for somebody to break into your home."

Another good tip, they recommend taking a home inventorytake a video of all the contents in your home, and save it someplace otherthan your houseso in the event that you do get broken into you have a list of all you own.