It's not wise to leave your Facebook account logged in on another person's computer, and this is never more true than when you're robbing someone's house.

CBS News reports that one man made this rookie error while burglarising a house in the town of St Paul, Minnesota.

Homeowner James Woods returned home to find his house ransacked and a number of his valuable missing. But when checking his computer, he found that the Facebook profile of Nicholas Wig was still logged in.

Woods decide to post to the account that Wig had committed the crime and left a phone number for anyone to provide further information.

Then the thief made a second astounding mistake. Later that day, Wig texted Woods and agreed to meet him later that night, apparently to swap some clothes he had left behind for a mobile phone he had stolen from the house.

While driving from a friend's house, Woods spotted the culprit walking down the street and immediately alerted police, who arrested him soon after.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said: "I’ve never seen this before. It’s a pretty unusual case, might even make the late night television shows in terms of not being too bright."

Wig faces up to 10 year in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.