Esther Fung of The Wall Street Journal reports that thieves can appear within minutes or even seconds to grab packages containing iPhones. Police say the thieves are using tracking numbers to target the phones. Fung writes:
Porch pirates across the country for months have been snatching FedEx packages that contain AT&T iPhones—within minutes or even seconds of delivery.
The key to these swift crimes, investigators say: The thieves are armed with tracking numbers. Another factor that makes packages from AT&T particularly vulnerable is that AT&T typically doesn’t require signature on delivery.
Doorbell camera videos show the thefts in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Michigan, Georgia, Florida and Texas. The details are similar: A FedEx driver drops off a box with an iPhone from AT&T. Then a person walks up—sometimes wearing an Amazon delivery vest—and plucks the package off the front step. The heist can be so quick that in some videos, the FedEx driver and thief cross paths. […]
“Well, son of a gun, you know I might have another iPhone stolen,” Lorio said she told AT&T.
She monitored her surveillance camera and hurried home in the middle of a work event when the package was delivered. She found it at her front door.
Read more here.
