Amazon Package Delivery Bait Boxes Theft

Thanks to the many online sales going on around this time, there are more porch pirates and stoop surfers than ever, who swipe holiday packages from unsuspecting residents directly off their doorstep. The police in New Jersey city are trying to catch the thieves by teaming up with Amazon to install doorbell cameras and plant dummy boxes with GPS tracking devices at homes around the city. “We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken. We thought it was a mistake at first,” said police Capt. James Crecco, who is overseeing the mission. Read more for another video and additional information.



New Jersey city police Capt. James Crecco said the suspect who stole the package in a mere 3-minutes was caught. There are no exact figures on porch thefts, but a company commissioned by comparison-shopping service insuranceQuotes.com surveyed 1,000 people and extrapolated that 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen from their home, or nearly one in 12 Americans.

“Not all operations have been that successful, and the program is limited in scope seeing as there’s no way for the police to deliver and monitor packages at the same volume as Amazon. But the thought that stealing a box off a doorstep might lead to your arrest could deter some would-be criminals,” reports Engadget.

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