Package thieves stole $12 billion worth of goods this year, according to a report released Tuesday by Security.org.
Based on a survey of 11,000 adults in all 50 states, the report also found that a quarter of American adults had a package stolen, and 4% (14 million people) suffered a theft in the past three months. The average value of each stolen package was $204, meaning nearly $3 billion in e-commerce goods were taken last summer, he added.
“A thriving U.S. economy is moving forward, and its robust performance is reflected in continued retail growth, driven primarily by a surge in e-commerce sales,” the report explains. “Such cheering signs are a green light for merchants and a beacon for greedy porch pirates.”
“Our research found that nine out of 10 consumers shop online at least once a month, and half do so every week,” he continued. “So much activity creates a treasure trove of packages and millions of potential victims.”
Package theft is an ongoing problem year after year, added Security.org Senior Industry Analyst Corie Wagner. “It’s definitely a crime of opportunity, and we’re seeing it increase at a time when there’s more opportunity,” she told the E-Commerce Times.
“When many people started returning to the office after the pandemic closed, we saw a sharp increase in the number of package thefts,” she explained. “And then we see them go up during big shopping occasions like the holidays. So we expect the number of package thefts to increase at this time of year.”
Organized rings against package theft
Package theft is becoming an increasingly serious problem, said Jack Berry, president of Security Explorer, a security brokerage in Los Angeles.
“This trend can be attributed to the increasing dependence of shopping on e-commerce,” he told the E-Commerce Times. “Adding to the problem is the lack of security among American families, as the report points out, where 42% of the population sometimes leave their doors unlocked, while about 15% do so even when they are not at home. Such carelessness makes their homes easy targets for thieves and increases the likelihood of package theft.”
“Package theft is getting worse as online shopping becomes more common and convenient,” added Harry Kazakian, founder and CEO of USA Express Legal and Investigative Services, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based legal services provider.
“The pandemic has accelerated this trend, and many people are now ordering multiple packages each week,” he told the E-Commerce Times. “This creates reliable and visible opportunities for thieves, especially the more sophisticated ones who consistently work in profitable neighborhoods — just like kids always know which houses have the best candy on Halloween.”
“Like organized retail crime, package theft has become more sophisticated,” added Suni Shamapande, director of PwC, an international professional services firm.
“It was initially an opportunistic crime, but the rise of home delivery has turned it into a business for some criminals,” he told the E-Commerce Times.
Battle stats
After seven years of tracking package theft, it looks like porch piracy may be catching up, according to Rebecca Edwards, managing editor and security expert at SafeWise, a home safety and security company in Salt Lake City.
SafeWise also tracks porch piracy, and its numbers are much higher than Security.org’s. “We haven’t seen any big increases in shipments year over year, but the bad news is that package theft losses are growing — to nearly $16 billion,” Edwards told the E-Commerce Times.
“Using our own SafeWise data and national crime statistics, we estimate about 91 million cases of package theft in 2023,” she noted. “This includes incidents where one or more packages have been taken, bringing the total number of individual stolen packages easily to over 120 million. That’s a slight year-on-year increase from 119 to 120 million, but that’s consistent with population fluctuations, so it’s safe to say that parcel theft may have reached its zenith.”
One of the challenges of front porch piracy is that there is no good data from retailers or law enforcement about the problem, so we rely on surveys like these, explained Ed Burnett, former vice president of security and global fraud investigations. at United Parcel Service, now retired.
“It’s hard to know if the problem is increasing or decreasing significantly, but it seems to have been pretty steady over the past few years,” he told the E-Commerce Times.
Consumers are getting smarter about package theft
Berry advised consumers to be concerned about package theft, especially during the holiday season when delivery volumes spike. “In addition to the immediate loss of expensive gifts or essential items, package theft comes with the risk of identity fraud,” he explained. “This is because several packages contain personal information on shipping labels, which is a goldmine for fraudsters.”
“This twin threat of financial loss and loss of identity can seriously dampen the holiday spirit,” he said. “This is why increased awareness and preventive measures are essential.”
One of the biggest changes Edwards has found this year is that more people are taking steps to prevent package theft. “Consumers are getting smarter,” she noted. “Nationwide, only one in four people do nothing to deter porch pirates — even though more than half of all Americans told us they worry about having their package stolen.”
“Those numbers change drastically after someone loses a package — more than eight in 10 added a deterrent after the package was ripped,” she said.
Consumers are also showing more interest in hardware surveillance. Wagner noted that Security.org survey numbers show that 52% of all households — renters and homeowners — have a security camera, compared to 42% in 2023, and 45% have video doorbells, compared to 37% in 2023.
Preventive steps to avoid porch piracy
In addition to buying security hardware, Melanie McGovern, director of public relations and social media at the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, offers these tips to reduce your risk of falling victim to porch hackers:
- Do not leave packages unattended.
- Send to a store, shop window or PO box.
- Some online retailers offer delivery to a pickup location at another store that has a physical location near you. Check delivery options when ordering.
- Signature required.
- Sign up for delivery related emails.
- Set your own notifications using your smartphone or app to remind you of the expected delivery date and time.
“Package theft is often a crime of opportunity, so the less time the package is seen on the front porch, the better,” Burnett added. “Even something as simple as leaving a message for the delivery person to hide the package behind something on your front porch so it’s not visible from the street is a great first step.”