OFF BEAT: Homeowner insurance app scares users

Talk about too close to home.

A Cardiff, Wales-based insurance marketer has launched a Facebook video app called “House of Horrors” that shows a burglar breaking into the viewer's own house.

According to Confused.com, a comparative insurance website owned by auto insurer Admiral Group P.L.C., this is accomplished through a Google Maps image of the user's street that is displayed in the clip. Taking information from a user's profile, such as photos, the app places these around the house “to make them feel as though it is their own” residence being burglarized, Confused.com said in a statement.

As if this were not enough, the video app lays on eerie music and a threatening burglar character who handles photos of the app user around the house and steals a laptop that displays the user's Facebook profile. The last shot shows the burglar holding a photo frame containing an image of the user, with the message, “Cover your possessions at Confused.com.”

Sharon Flaherty, head of content at the website, said the video “is bound to make people feel uneasy as though their home really has been broken into. However, this is a situation which is very much a reality given that the British Crime Survey reported a 5% rise in burglary in the 12 months to September 2011.”

“We're looking to spark conversation with this video app and make people understand the importance of having home insurance. With the current challenging financial times, people may stop insuring their possessions just to save a few pounds, but this is false economy,” Mike Hoban, marketing director at Confused.com, said in a statement.

The statement, however, neither addresses the issue of why anyone would want to watch such a video nor does it give any word about insurance for the nightmares it may cause.