8 Ways To Stop Porch Pirates In Foxborough

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Online shopping has reached an all-time high due to the coronavirus pandemic as package thieves gear up for the holiday season in Foxborough and across the country.

Foxborough police asked residents to be aware of the issue and to take precautions to keep thieves from spoiling their holiday plans.

"Like many of us, thieves have also begun their holiday shopping, and they're not waiting for last minute deals," Foxborough police said in a Facebook post. "As deliveries soar, packages left on doorsteps are an easy target."

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

Here are eight tips Foxborough police shared to help Americans keep from becoming a victim of a package theft:

• Request notifications on your deliveries, via phone or email, to monitor your packages in transit and upon delivery. FedEx and UPS offer services to assist customers during the holidays.
• Always require a signature on your deliveries to ensure packages are never left unattended.
• Consider sending deliveries to an alternate location where someone will be able to receive them – whether that be a workplace, a neighbor or friend’s house, or a FedEx or UPS location.
• Schedule your delivery for a specific date and time that you’re expected to be home.
• Set up a vacation hold if you plan on traveling during the holidays so gifts won’t be left on the doorstep.
• Be aware of “tailgating,” which refers to people who follow delivery vehicles and steal packages after they are dropped off. If you find your package has been stolen, immediately report it to the Foxborough Police Department.
• Never accept a surprise delivery where a payment is required, and never give out personal information when receiving a delivery that you purchased as it may be a scam.
• If you see any suspicious people, vehicles or activity in your neighborhood, report it to police immediately.