Are Home Security Scarecrows Truly Effective Against Burglars?

The Kevin McCallister trick

A potential excerpt from the ‘Wet Bandits’ Handbook for Successful Robberies’ might claim that empty houses are primary targets for looting. But as seen in Home Alone, faking the presence of grown-ups – by turning on the TV and moving mannequins around on a train track – easily convinces the criminals to drive away. In real life we have more sophisticated tools at our disposal, ready to deploy before heading out for vacation.

Fake dog alarms are a cross between a record player and a motion detector, and when armed it plays the audio of an angry dog every time someone steps inside the sensory range. Leaving the TV on also seems to be a convincing sign that the building is occupied, but it would generate a horrific energy bill. A fake TV light is a much more sensible option because not only does it simulate the varied visual effects of a television but the built-in scheduler switches the device off after dawn.

Cheap solutions may backfire

There are other signs that could foil your carefully constructed illusion, too: newspapers piling up at the front door; the answering machine happily announcing that the residents are on vacation; or when you carelessly post images and messages about the travel on your Facebook account.

Man on the curtain

The common mistake in these above-mentioned scare tactics is that they try to emulate the image of a lively household (with lights, a TV, or dogs) and not the residents themselves. Seeing the silhouette of a man appear in front of the window is far more convincing and burglars won’t hang around for fear of being noticed. A Japanese landlord has come to the same conclusion with his crafty invention that projects a literal shadow onto the curtain.

The appropriately named Man on the Curtain involves a smartphone-connected projector that features footage of a man’s shadow on a white background. The videos are 30-minutes long and each of them revolve around a mundane task such as vacuuming, dancing, walking around with a book, and the like. When the projector is pointed at the curtain it creates the illusion of the resident doing household chores, with their shadow appearing in the window. The inventor recommends the product for people living alone so they can fake the presence of a roommate.