Police in parts of northern Delaware want residents to keep an eye out for fake Amazon drivers who look like they're making a delivery, but they are actually stealing packages right off of front porches.
One woman in Delaware spoke with NBC10 about what happened when she fell victim to one of these porch pirates.
Florence Kamau, of Middletown, shared some warnings for everyone in Delaware or those who may live in other states.
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"I’m beyond myself right now I’m not sure," Kamau said.
Kamau explained to NBC10 that she got an alert that FedEx dropped off her family's new iPhones on Monday. Her Ring camera captured the moments that the phones were then taken away.
"Forty minutes later this guy from Amazon shows up with a package and I didn’t order anything from Amazon so I was a little curious," she said.
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Middletown police said that the guy was dressed as a fake Amazon delivery driver. He was wearing the vest to look legitimate as a porch pirate in disguise.
It isn't clear to investigators yet if he was working alone or with any other suspects.
Kamau said that the package was left under a chair and she isn't sure the suspect would have just seen it from the street.
Some porch pirates have been caught on security cameras walking up to a home with something in their hands to make it look like they're an actual Amazon worker making a real delivery.
This way, residents won't think anything of them approaching their home. We're all conditioned now that we don't think twice when we see an Amazon driver.
Meanwhile, some Amazon drivers make things complicated by driving their own unmarked personal vehicles.
"It was like faking like he is dropping something off and he didn’t drop anything, he just took the other parcel and tucked it under his Amazon jacket and left," Kamau said.
New Castle County police say they have had reports like this in other parts of the county and unfortunately they don't have a perfect way to make sure this doesn't keep happening.
Officials recommend requiring a signature for delivery, having items sent to a lock box or having a neighbor pick up your packages right after you get an alert that they were delivered.
Another tip? Definitely have a good surveillance camera to catch the suspect in the act.
"Video surveillance is key in a lot of these incidents. That way we can put it out to the public if we are unable to get a tag number," New Castle County Police Sgt. Andrea Botterbusch said. "If you see someone suspicious at a neighbor’s house if you can get a description of the vehicle or even better a tag number it helps immensely."
Kamau says she will now have to hope her cell phone company sympathizes with her situation and replaces the new phones that were stolen.
She still can't believe someone would be so mean and go to such great lengths to steal other people's stuff.
"This is very wrong, please don’t do it because families do need whatever they ordered and some of us are single parents and we work hard for our money and when we do this, we do it for our family so you kinda set us back when you do that," she said.
A spokesperson with Amazon told NBC10 that the company monitors the internet often to check for unauthorized Amazon-looking clothing and demands the items to be taken down whenever possible.
“While the vast majority of deliveries make it to customers without issue, we recognize that, unfortunately, there are bad actors who wear Amazon-branded or look-alike apparel to commit package theft. We encourage anyone who’s been a victim of package theft to report it to the police and we’ll work with law enforcement to help as much as possible. Amazon’s customer service is also available 24/7 to help with any matters related to deliveries," spokesperson Austin Stowe said in a statement.
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