A suspected thief appears to have mistakenly posted his own picture on his victim's Facebook page using a stolen tablet computer, South African media reported Friday.

James and Barbara McCall returned from a weekend break to find thieves had broken into their home and had made off with digital cameras, tablets and television sets.

On discovering the theft the following morning, James set to change his login passwords for Facebook and other sites.

It was then that McCall noticed that a man's picture had been uploaded on his wife's Facebook page.

He suspects it must be that of one the thieves.

"He probably did not realise he was doing it," McCall told the Star daily.

"Usually you never log off from a tablet, so it could have happened quite quickly."

Police have not yet made any arrests.