5 Ways To Stop Porch Pirates In NYC

NEW YORK CITY — Santa's sleigh barely jingles away over New York City's skyline before slippery thieves slip by ready to swipe gifts from stoops.

OK, maybe it's not literally Kris Kringle dropping off Christmas packages — online shopping has reached an all-time high amid the coronavirus pandemic. And, with that, dreaded package thieves are gearing up for the holiday season in New York City and across the country.

It's not just confined to the holiday season in the city. New York City ranked fourth among cities for Google searches for "stolen package" after the pandemic, according to an August study by Hippo.

Add a coronavirus-related online shopping boom to the holiday season and NYPD officers worry about a porch pirate explosion.

NYPD advises New Yorkers to use many different tactics to avoid losing their precious holiday cargo.

"Choose a shipping option that requires a signature for delivery," a recent NYPD flyer about package theft advises, among other tips.

How big is the problem?

Big.

More than 5.5 million Americans have been victimized by package thefts over the past year, according to Finder, a personal finance comparison website, in a study released in November.

About $5.4 billion worth of items were stolen in package thefts from November 2019 to November 2020, the Finder determined.

Because of the busy online shopping month of December, that number is likely to grow by the end of the year.

Fewer people were in the nation’s malls on Black Friday, and Cyber Monday is expected to become the busiest online shopping day of all time when all sales are totaled, according to The Associated Press.

Overall holiday season sales in 2020 are expected to rise 0.9 percent, with a 36 percent jump in online sales, a study by the research company eMarketer shows.

Porch pirates could see a prime opportunity to take advantage of the expected spike in packages left at front doors.

They usually get away with it, too. Only 11 percent of victims said the culprits were caught, according to a 2019 study by C+R Research.

Who Steals A Package?

Men are found to be more likely to be both package thieves and victims of the crime, according to the Finder study. With 5.29 percent of men admitting having stolen a package compared with 0.85 percent of women, men are more than 500 percent more likely to be package thieves than women, the study found.

Seventeen percent of men say a package of theirs was stolen during the past year, compared with 11 percent for women.

Still, 86 percent of the nearly 2,000 participants in the study said they have not experienced a package theft since this time last year.

Prevention Tips

Just in case the NYPD tips weren't enough, here are five tips Finder shared to help Americans keep from becoming a victim of a package theft:

• Try curbside pickup: Drive to the store; most of them offer curbside pickup options.
• Use a post office box: This will ensure the package is handled by a professional at your neighborhood post office.
• Video surveillance: Doorbell cameras such as Ring can allow homeowners to scare away the thief in real time.
• Require a signature: This way, the package cannot go unattended.
• Have it sent to your workplace: Public places typically have a greater chance of using security cameras.