Police in Hingham, Massachusetts, are warning residents about two recent incidents in which phones were stolen immediately upon being delivered outside homes.
Hingham police said they're investigating these incidents that occurred in May and July, noting they're different from other package theft incidents because they involve iPhone deliveries in which the packages were stolen right away.
According to police, on May 30, an iPhone and Air Pods were delivered by FedEx to a Bel Air Road home. About 10 seconds after the FedEx truck drove away, an SUV stopped at the house and two men wearing blue Amazon vests got out. One of the men carried an empty box to the front porch and stole the two boxes that had just been delivered. He put the empty cardboard box he was carrying in their place.
The SUV was a dark-colored Jeep Patriot with dark-colored rims. Police provided a photo of the man who allegedly stole the packages, and he can be seen wearing an orange t-shirt with the blue Amazon delivery vest over it, grey pants, and Crocs.
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In the second incident, on July 3, police say five iPhones were delivered to a Daley Road home by FedEx and stolen just minutes later from the front steps. Police do not currently have a description of the suspect(s) or the vehicle involved at this time.
Both of these thefts are actively being investigated. Police say anyone who is having a new phone delivered to their home should request it as "signature required" or choose to have it delivered directly to a store for pickup in preson.
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Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to contact Det. Heather Hermida or Det. Scott Tracey at 781-741-1443. Anonymous tips can also be left on the department's website.
”The world is going off the rails, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s just more of that,” one woman told NBC10 Boston.
Unfortunately, porch pirates are real, and the Better Business Bureau has some suggestions to avoid them, including scheduling delivery for when you're at home, having items shipped to the company's local store, requiring a signature for delivery, and installing security cameras at your house.
”With people making more purchases online and the convenience of having them shipped to your doorstep, unfortunately has caused an increase in these in these people pirating from your doorstep,” Paula Fleming, of Boston's Better Business Bureau, said.
Home deliveries are definitely here to stay and growing. In fact, next week will be especially busy with Amazon’s Prime Day starting Tuesday.
Fleming recommends making your purchases with a credit card.
"No, I don’t want you to build up debt," she explained, "but I want you to have this extra layer of protection where you can dispute the charge through the credit card company should you be a victim of a porch pirate.”
In Hingham, one of the alleged porch pirates actually dressed like an Amazon driver. These are considered crimes of opportunity with what some see as limited consequence for the perpetrators.
”You just hear about this happening all the time, but you don’t hear about them basically getting caught or anything," a man told NBC10 Boston.
They hope that’s not the case here in Hingham. If you recognize the suspect or know anything about these crimes, you’re asked to contact police.
