Some Boston University students may joke about ‘creeping’ their friends on Facebook, looking through pictures and status updates, but when the ‘creeper’ happens to be a burglar, one British insurance company would rather not take any chances.

Legal & General’s recent ‘Digital Criminal Report’ found that out of 2,000 users, 38 percent of Facebook and Twitter users have posted statuses about vacation plans, and 33 percent about leaving for the weekend. With these statistics and other findings, the company claims that burglars are using this information to compile lists for potential targets.

The insurance company used Michael Fraser, a ‘reformed burglar’ from the British Broadcast Corporation’s’ ‘Beat the Burglar’ to help with research. Fraser said social networking sites are like ‘internet [sic] shopping for burglars,’ with all the personal information users provide, according to the Legal & General’s web site.

Legal & General also conducted an experiment to see how many users would accept a ‘friend request’ on Facebook, or a ‘follow’ request on Twitter ‘- 13 percent of Facebook requests were accepted and 92 percent of the Twitter requests, the study, released in August, claims.

American insurance companies have yet to follow suit, and thousands of Facebook and Twitter users continue to regularly post’ personal information online. Many students said despite potential security concerns they have not changed social networking habits.

School of Management sophomore Erica Shapiro said although she has Facebook friends whom she doesn’t personally know, she doesn’t think her online activity puts her at risk.

‘I have my Facebook profile set to private?so that only my ‘Friends’ can see my information,’ she said.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Ariel Stone said social networking sites are useful for sharing personal information about oneself and finding information about others.

‘I got Facebook so I could creep on my classmates and because everyone else has one,’ she said. ‘I then got Twitter because I really like talking about myself, too.’

Stone said out of her 400 Facebook friends, she only considers around 60 percent of them actual friends. She also said out of those actual friends, there are only six with whom she would actually share personal information.

Stone said she thinks Facebook is more secure than sites like Craigslist, an online classified advertising site that is largely unregulated.

‘I’ve always thought Craigslist was majorly sketchy,’ Stone said. ‘I feel like people should be aware that other people can, and will, exploit online services to take advantage of people.’

Craigslist recently received negative attention in the case of alleged ‘Craiglist killer’ Phillip Markoff, a former BU medical student who faces charges of first-degree murder of Julissa Brisman, and armed robbery and kidnapping of Trisha Leffler. Markoff allegedly met both women on Craigslist.

Many students said Markoff’s case had no effect on their online activity.

‘Those things always happen somewhere. People just become accustomed to the idea that somewhere could never be where they live,’ CAS sophomore Borah Coburn said. ‘Personally, it didn’t affect my online habits. There wasn’t much to curtail, anyway.’

Coburn said regardless, she’s still cautious about the personal information she puts online.

‘I’ve always been careful about what other people can see and what I allow on websites,’ Coburn said. ‘I respond to messages and posts, but I don’t generally spontaneously post things [about myself].’