TOWSON, Md. — Holiday shopping comes early for Amazon Prime customers with discounts of up to 75 percent up for grabs, but porch pirates also can celebrate the spoils of these shopping sprees.
“We do receive calls for this,” said Baltimore County Police Det. Trae Corbin, “They can be considered Fourth Degree Burglaries.”
Just consider the magnitude of the thefts.
According to a study commissioned by ValuePenguin, two out of five people have had packages stolen, costing them an estimated hundred dollars apiece totaling more than $7 billion over the last year.
In Baltimore County, police say in the days following Amazon’s promotion, typically thefts from porches climb by at least 40 percent.
“What we normally see is an uptick in thefts that come from people having their packages out front and individuals seeing the opportunity to just go ahead and steal them,” said Corbin, “So we ask individuals to, again, schedule these deliveries when they’re going to be home. If they’re not going to be home, please schedule them to be delivered in a secure area and/or get some surveillance for your house.”
Other tips include getting to know your delivery people, networking with neighbors to look out for packages and enhancing the lighting around your house to stop thieves from turning your bargains into their bounty.
