Peabody Case Of Porch Pirating Gone Very Poorly

PEABODY, MA — Porch pirates can be a bit brazen as they lurk in neighborhoods looking to swipe holiday packages this time of year.

Erin Mitchell learned recently that they can be both brazen and not too bright.

Mitchell said her roommate recently had food from the Peabody Diner delivered to their Tremont Street-area apartment via Grub Hub. When the roommate answered the door to get the food, she noticed a package outside and brought it in the apartment.

Only Mitchell said when another roommate looked outside a couple of minutes later, he noticed the Grub Hub driver was back and walking away with another Amazon package.

"My roommate sees the guy grab the package from somewhere in our yard," Mitchell told Patch. "He went out to confront him and the guy took off."

But Mitchell said she checked the Amazon update that showed a picture of her package on the porch right about where her other roommate's package had been.

"The Grub Hub driver must have kicked my package off the porch when he walked up to deliver food to where he could come back and grab it when no one was watching," she surmised.

Of course, Mitchell and her roommates had all the information on the driver from the third-party delivery service. They called the Peabody Diner, and they called Peabody police.

"The Peabody Diner was very helpful," she said. "They offered to let us look at the surveillance footage if we needed it."

But before the police got there, Mitchell said the driver returned the stolen goods.

"I guess he realized how stupid it was that he took my package when our roommate saw him take it in his Grub Hub car and we had all that information," Mitchell said. "When he came back he said thought it was a package that he dropped off by accident…. You are a Grub Hub driver, not an Amazon driver.

"I guess you should have thought about that before you stole my package. That was pretty stupid."

She said the roommates tried to keep the driver talking until police showed up. But they did have the license plate and delivery information. She said that because the driver did return the package no charges were pressed.

Mitchell said the whole incident was a reminder not to leave packages lingering on the porch, but is happy that at least her aunt will get the Christmas present that was inside the Amazon box.

"I told my aunt that someone tried to steal your package," Mitchell declared. "But I got it back for you!"

Package Theft Across the U.S.

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 was among the busiest online shopping days of all time when all sales were 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.

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.

Prevention Tips

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 the Swampscott 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.

Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.

More Patch Coverage: Porch Pirates On The Prowl In Swampscott