Technology helping to deter holiday package thieves this season

The holiday season is upon us, and in today’s technology driven world there are many great new ways to both buy and send gifts. Sadly though, the criminal world has evolved with the ever growing world of online shopping and gift shipping. In recent years as the amount of online shopping for the holidays has increased, the amount of stolen packages has risen sharply as well. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming to a close, being aware of the always growing “Porch Piracy” as this phenomenon has come to be known is half the battle. More and more online offers have popped up for Black Friday over the years, and Cyber Monday is as popular as Black Friday, and the biggest online shopping day of the season. Postal delivery services from UPS to FedEx and all in-between will be delivering millions of packages over the next few weeks. If you want to prevent the porch pirates from hitting your house, the technology world has been working hard to come up with ways to help you make them rethink taking your packages.

Studies have shown that rural areas are at greater risk to be hit, as these thieves feel most comfortable when they feel they can act unseen. The biggest ways technology can help you to protect your purchases is to make your house seem as though it is constantly under surveillance. There are the low tech standbys – dummy video cameras that look real and can make criminals rethink taking packages and being caught on camera. You can even leave your television on, or buy a device that will simulate a television to make thieves think you are home.  Many people are taking it to the next step however with actual home surveillance systems, from entire house protection to doorbell video cameras. Some popular options are Nest or the Ring surveillance.

The Ring system has the advantage of not only detouring porch thefts, but can catch the perpetrators when they do happen. The way a Ring video doorbell works varies by a certain degree with the price, and with the quantity and quality of the features you can get it with, from their lowest – the original and simple video doorbell that is an easy product with self-install that gives you alerts activated with motion, 720HD video and 2 way talk to their highest – the Video Doorbell Elite that needs professional installation, has 1080HD video, built in mic and speakers, and more. From the lowest to the highest, these video doorbells can detour criminals by providing a camera, and by giving homeowners the ability to act as though they are home no matter what. Video doorbells can even catch motion at a neighbor’s home and capture the criminal that may have gone to the only home without surveillance visible.

These are a handful of examples of the technology currently out there to help protect your home against being attractive to package seekers. If you are not a tech person, please remember that there are some no tech options available to help safeguard your packages, from sending your packages to work, having them held at the Post Office for pickup, and tracking. So this holiday season, whether you go low tech, high tech or no tech, use the many resources available to you to make sure if  you took advantage of the deals online to get what you want, you are the one who gets to your deliveries first.