Porch pirates don't seem to be slowing down business during the novel coronavirus pandemic, as millions of packages are being delivered to people observing stay-at-home orders.
While it’s something people are used to seeing during the holiday season, the thieves seem to be capitalizing on this time as well. One person in Scottsdale, Arizona, helped himself to a package left outside.
The owners of the home, Matt and Brook Williams, are essential workers and were out when the package was dropped off.
“We saw the package being delivered. We got a Ring alert that was happening,” Brook told Inside Edition. “Just a couple minutes later, we got a second Ring alert and when we looked at our Ring doorbell video, we noticed that somebody else that we didn't know had walked up and was taking the package right off of our porch.”
Inside the package was a $325 pizza oven. Matt was furious, and Brook called it “violating” to watch as someone waltzed onto her property and take something that belongs to her while not being able to do anything about it.
This instance was just one of many alleged porch pirating instances that’s been captured across the U.S. From Iowa to Portland, Oregon, there’s video of people snatching packages from porches during the time.
Security expert Bill Stanton, author of “Prepared not Scared,” said there’s things people can do to make them less susceptible to thieves.
He said having a clear location that a driver can leave the package where it’s not visible, like a backyard, would be good. Having a lock box is another option.
Check out the video above for more of Stanton’s tips.
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