WMBCTV: Elevated porch piracy during the holiday season

58 million Americans have become victims to porch piracy over the last 12 months, according to a security.org report. That’s $12 billion in stolen packages just in the past year.

Officials from the Fairfield Police Department say they’ve seen a rise in porch piracy during this holiday season due to the increased popularity of online shopping.

“It does happen more,” said Stacy Chiarolanza, Public Information Officer. “People seem to leave their packages out or they’re just not home when they’re delivered and a lot of times, there are people out there that orchestrate timing of drop-offs with people not being home and they’re able to intercept them before anyone gets home.”

In some cases, porch piracy has even become more aggressive and targeted. A recent incident report on Long Island involved what appeared to be a premeditated scheme in which porch pirates allegedly stole a package that was shipped to the victims’ address by hackers without authorization from the recipients. 

While officers are noticing this uptick in porch piracy, they are encouraging victims to speak up.

“Well, listen, it’s theft so first of all, it depends on how much is stolen, monetarily wise. But I have to be honest with you. In New Jersey, we have no bail reform so we have issues with that and a lot of the criminals know that,” said Officer Chiarolanza. “Don’t worry about what the consequences are or aren’t in this state. You still want your stuff and you still want people that are doing the wrong thing to get in trouble.”

Officer Chiarolanza says that before your package gets stolen, there are some steps you can take to prevent porch piracy from happening to you, especially during this holiday gifting season. 

“If you’re home especially- if you’re not home, there’s nothing you can do about it- but if you’re home, and a package is delivered, just go out and get it,” said Officer Chiarolanza. “You get the email notification or the text notification that it’s been delivered. Get up and just go out and get it. The faster you can get it into your house, the better you are than waiting an hour or whatever because it’s just sitting out there waiting to get stolen.”