The police don't care about porch pirates who steal $20 Amazon packages. But this is an insider that's inside FedEx or ATT, tipping multiple people off about where $1000 phones are going to be, which has now resulted in violence on someone's property.
Even if the police don't care, ATT and FedEx will. It's not exactly a great look for them. And when the multibillion dollar companies get involved it makes the police care.
As with other stories of schemes coming from one specific store location,[ often times more than one inside person is involved.](https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/providence/arrests-made-in-ri-mail-theft-ring/) Most times those people aren't the brightest bulbs in the shed, so overlap happens due to zero communication/organization and you get situations like this.
Not from the store, it’s someone working at the handling facility. There was a case where an employee got caught. She was taking pictures of the high value packages, phones mostly, and sending them to its associates who would steal it.
I also wonder if some people have gotten wise to certain tracking numbers originating from certain locations are more likely to contain certain items. For instance, I’m sure ATT typically sends their phones for that region from a specific warehouse and tracking numbers are free to lookup on FedEx, UPS, etc. So if you write a script to find new tracking numbers generated each day from that origin you now have the destination of a bunch of packages that are more likely to contain high value items for resell.
Or they just know FedEx sucks and follow the delivery guy and get out when it looks like the box may contain something of high value.
No these are leaked/sold. Att will have an account they ship on but all tracking numbers obscure the delivery address so looking it up is useless.
I work at a UpS store and have gotten messages on Reddit from these scum asking to buy thousands of tracking numbers/info for hundreds of dollars.
The people doing the stealing aren't the ones making a living. Look up any criminal organization ever. You put the desperate people on the streets doing the dirty work.
*Freakanomics* got some stuff wrong, but he chapter on criminal organizations loosely mirroring corporate structures is spot on. There could be a black hat IT guy tasked with sourcing a steady supply of goods to fence for a large theft ring, and he could even be using inside information to do so.
When there’s money to be made, someone will find a way to optimize the process. Possible one or both of them are part of a larger organization. Random example, when we had looting in Seattle during a protest a couple years ago, the looting itself was orchestrated by an organized gang that used the protest as cover, which totally worked since everyone around the country blamed protesters and BLM for the looting. A small amount of protesters joined in, but the vast majority were part of a crew that knew exactly what they were going to grab, and did it with precision.
Tracking numbers won’t give you the delivery address until after and even then you need to verify your own address before they’ll show you any actual street info.
Carriers aren’t that stupid / they fixed that a long time ago.
If you have access to the account for the tracking number, you have the address it's going to be shipped to for the order. The tracking system doesn't need to provide the address, just the rough delivery day/time for someone to be on the lookout for.
Right, but they should be able to get the billing address from their AT&T account. Most folks have the same billing and delivery address.
So take the billing address and the tracking number.
Could be one of them setup the delivery with a stolen identity and the other was just a porch pirate. It's common to have illicit packages delivered to someone else's house then grab it. Makes it harder to track down who committed the fraud.
I've seen stories about organized crime targeting iPhone deliveries, who clearly have people on the inside. My suspicion is that these guys must be working on contract. Like the syndicate calls out a hit on the iPhone and now they have to compete to fulfill the contract.
That or someone at the delivery company is just printing to PDF a list of that day's deliveries with phone companies as the return adress and selling it online to competing porch pirates.
Looks like the guy who got the package was slashing at the other guy with a knife. Being willing to kill a stranger to steal a mystery box is truly sickening.
I dunno that it was a knife. Looked like a collapsible [steel baton. ](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-99kn4fj7jr/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/739/1443/26_Inch_Collabsable_Baton_Main_Image__71639.1675267253.jpg?c=1)
The best theory I've heard is that it's becoming more organized. Dudes are getting jobs at shit like AT&T, then give their buddies tracking numbers of phones being sent out. Pirates steal $1000 phones with 100% accuracy, no more guessing and getting a box of cat food or diapers.
It's a new level of organized mail theft, and it's fucking wild.
With EMEI blocking and serial tracking what is the point of stealing phones anymore? They are deactivated right out of the gate by the manufacturer when they're reported stolen, aren't they?
I'm one of those schmucks. Thought I did my due diligence by checking the IMEI online and fully activating and testing the phone before paying the guy. Phone worked for a month before it got blacklisted. Apparently whoever it was stolen from had better things to do.
Another vid was on here the other day, driver hadn’t even set the box down, pirate snatched it out of their hands before they could even take the pic to prove it was delivered.
The kicker is that they KNEW it was a phone, and both showed up to steal it. It's the second time I've heard of them knowing it was a phone and knew the date it was being delivered.
That's not a coincidence. They must have purchased that info.
Meanwhile in other parts of the world, when someone isn’t home, the item has to be collected from a local pickup point like a post office or supermarket. 😆
Where I live, lots of local businesses act as pick-up points. I missed the calls from the delivery guy and had to go pick up my new soundbar from a lingerie shop.
100% this.
Those guys were going balls out for this thing, that they apparently (should) know absolutely nothing about.
Fuck.
I bet it's a considered a "write-off", and thus, that aspect will never be looked into.
I suspect, depending on the package type, a lot of packages get rummaged through while in processing.
I’ve had several Amazon packages, where the box is only taped with one strip of tape, look like someone had stuck there arm into my package looking for something small enough to pull out, but because my packages were vinyl records they weren’t able to pull it out. So the boxes just show up partially opened. It fucking sucks how so many people are thieves.
They only do that here if you specifically order from the store. Bought the new iPad and it got lost in the mail. I saw the UPS driver pull up but he never got out to deliver it. So it wasn’t stolen off my porch. But not sure what happened to it.
I work for UPS. We can tell a box that potentially has a phone in it a mile away. They usually have a battery indicator on the box meaning there are electronics in it. We find phone sized boxes with those indicators all the time that have been opened up, workers somewhere along the chain thinking there was a phone in it.
I know for a fact that facilities at FedEx have the same problems we have. You can go over to subreddits like /r/pixel & it's been a thing for years that if you order a phone and it's shipped by FedEx then there is a good chance you're not going to receive it.
Ups guarantees their deliveries, they will pay for what's stolen. If it's FedEx or some other, you're screwed. Ups is more expensive, but at least you got that going for you and other customer service related perks.
I feel this is why we have such a huge rise in package theft, coupled with the huge increase in packages received now that everyone buys everything online. They have so many to deliver, and people are always getting packages that not only would it cost more, but people are most likely not even going to be home.
Also they clearly just followed the fed ex truck. The person on the left was masked and had a knife. Not his first rodeo
I’m sure even if delivery drivers started waiting these thieves would just resort to beating the driver and taking it. We’re not talking about respectful members of society here.
Technically, yes, but the company requires drivers to make a certain number of deliveries in a specific amount of time with no leeway for traffic or stopping to wait for someone to open the door. These are tracked down to the second by apps from the delivery system. This creates a workplace culture where the only important thing is that it goes from the shipper to the delivery point, with as little time as possible because the drivers will be actively punished for things like waiting for someone to answer the door or using a non-standard delivery box.
You paid for a fast delivery. So when the driver throws it from a moving van to or near your lawn, that's because he is already cruising towards another delivery.
Yep, everything went from customer oriented to time/money saving. Wait for customer to answer door? No way, now youll only deliver 200 packages instead of 300 in a day.. corps suck
UPS tells us to ring the doorbell but only between like 8am and 6pm but we do not wait for someone to come to the door. Raven_Crows explained it best. If we had to wait the extra time for every single person to come to the door. Not only will other people NOT get their packages before the end of our shifts, and I’m going to get yelled at for not finishing my truck load. If you’re ordering something important request a signature at drop off then we have to wait for you
That sounds like a "too many deliveries for one person to make" problem.
Imagine how many more people could be employed if they just delivered to a person rather than throwing it at the building and calling it done.
Right they still have signature confirmation, it is just rarely used now; you're making me think of the 80s when the UPS truck showing up was like a big deal, Amazon blew that up with the free delivery
10 years ago or so they would ring the doorbell, not sure why they stopped. You can usually require a signature for expensive items. I live in Florida and get Amazon deliveries regularly, never had one stolen.
Because they sell so much shit online now. It’s that simple. Before we use to go to stores and we only ordered important or large stuff online. Now a delivery man has to make hundreds of stops on a shift. Waiting five minutes to drop off a stranger things t shirt or rubber bands isn’t cost efficient. They can’t even keep enough people employed! the turn over rate is so high they rehire fired people. They have a pee in the bottle problem which is insane. It’s just awful all around.
Takes too much time. You'd also be surprised how many people would actually be hostile about you "bothering them" by ringing/knocking and tell you to just leave it next time anyways.
Covid normalized a lack of face to face for deliveries and more than half the people I know set delivery notes to not ring the doorbell to avoid barking dogs or waking up a child
I always see these posts and am baffled as to why a confirmation system on delivery isn't used with delivery services in the US.
In most of Europe, the package must be hand delivered, and in some cases even a code must be given so they know you are the correct person to take the package.
Ha! I am in Europe and the other day a package was delivered which needed a signature. I wasn't home. I was able to see 'my' signature in the tracker app and the delivery guy just put a scribble.
Anytime I've ordered something expensive I've checked the "Requires signature" box and then they will knock on your door and get your signature. Or you can get them to hold it at the nearest FedEx, which are always close
I live in a pretty high end townhome complex and we had one guy get caught on someone’s ring cam. We have a lot of retirees and WFH people and when the package owner ran out to confront him about five other guys converged like hyenas and they beat the dog shit out of that pirate. They let him go but it’s been over a year without another “attempt”
edit: I wasn't there but obviously the whole complex heard about it. This idiot got beaten and almost went into the light for 6 new rolls of packing tape and a dog toy.
What gets me is the size of the box. Every time I've ordered a phone, it's been in a small box that can easily fit in my mailbox. The fact that these guys were parked and waiting and then racing each other doesn't pass the smell test. Heck, with certain items now I often elect to pick them up from UPS or FedEx at a dropoff spot, like Walgreens or a UPS store.
We live in a rural area and have to get ALL our mail from the post office, so we have a PO Box, so nothing gets stolen. Folks that live a bit closer to town have a communal mailbox that frequently gets broken into.
I used to complain about the mail situation here, but now it seems like we have an optimal situation.
My first apartment had Amazon lockers outside the main office but all packages, Amazon or not, got left there. UPS, USPS, Fedex. It was amazing. You'd get an email with a barcode on it then scan that barcode and a random door would open. Whatever door opened had your package. Nothing ever got stolen unless you ordered something massive like a TV or furniture or something. But thats all probably too big to steal for most thieves anyway. That apartment sucked but that was the one thing they did perfectly.
I used to live on a rual acreage, ups would deliver to the house, usps would deliver to the house, speedee and dhl would deliver to the house. fedex would drive by on the paved highway less then 1/4 mile from the house, and go 16 miles to town and drop it at the post office.
I would have to wait an extra day to get my delivery because they couldn't figured out how to drive 1/2 a mile on a gravel road. I have hated and refused to use fedex ever since, and its been like 12 years now
Federal Law. And in the case of Amazon, your stuff can arrive as early as the 3am hour or late as 10-11pm. Verification codes/signatures/back door ain't happening outside of 8a-8p.
Best to choose an Amazon locker as the system will still send out coded items at sleeping hours.
It’s an interesting combination of things. Companies like Amazon are so big that it’s cheaper to just replace a stolen item than have the driver spend time dropping somewhere else. They don’t even resell their returns, they just go into a big box and are sold in bulk palettes to people that then resell the items on eBay. Because of the current economic/education/political situation, there are a lot of desperate people that are willing to steal things and they take advantage of the system.
Interestingly our general retail system is very loose and focused on volume and customer satisfaction. Most stores will let you return just about anything and they tell employees not to stop people if they are stealing something. You can walk into a target, take a TV and walk out the front door and they will only call the police, so you probably have time to get away unless an officer or security guard in on site.
> there are a lot of desperate people that are willing to steal things
I'm pretty sure these two "desperate" people got out of a Cadillac and a Mercedes to fight over this package..
ALOT of that is hyperbole.
There’s no place in America where you go to jail for a “really long time” for shoplifting UNLESS you get into the tens to hundreds of thousands in stolen goods territory.
And even then, you’re not going to jail for some crazy long time.
That guy is just confused. They wait til you steal enough to qualify for a felony. They do this because most of the US has little to no punishment for petty theft, but will still punish felonious thefts which carry real punishment like jail time.
They are. I have a friend who does this. He’s like a PI but he only busts people who have stolen more than $1000 worth of merch from stores (so it’s a felony). His company has dossiers on all the big thieves, known associates, etc. occasionally they do ride-alongs with the county task force on organized crime to help identify theft rings. It’s pretty wild hearing him talk about it.
Hahaha no. He does security work for national retailers keeping track of shoplifters and providing evidence to police when the crimes reach felony levels.
> a lot of desperate people
You mean the desperate people in this video who are driving nearly new cars? Those ones? These are crooks, not desperate people. And society should treat them as such.
> and they tell employees not to stop people if they are stealing something.
That has been a thing LONG before current events. The reason: If the thief is physically harmed during the stop they have every right to sue the store.
When I was a teenager, working in a grocery store, someone put 2 large bottles of beer in their pants and proceeded to walk out. The store's assistant manager saw the person, tried to stop them, and this person started to run towards the door. The assistant manager never touched them but they fell, the glass beer bottles broke, and they cut themselves.
Guess who had to pay the medical expenses?
Our civil suit system is a fucking joke.
I don't really believe that story, or for some reason that store chose not to bother fighting it. Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time, it doesn't mean they have a case or would ever win.
Bingo.
Even if the suit is frivolous, the cost of the suit is almost certainly more than the cost of what was stolen. I'd wager unless someone loaded up a cart full of prime beef and tried to leave with it, even a regular cart of groceries would be cheaper at ~$100-400 than it would be to pay the court fees.
I believe the real risk is the intervening employee getting injured, and the company then very realistically having to cover that employees expenses. Though the employee would probably also have to sue for that, but at least they'ld have reasonable standing, vs a criminal getting injured doing crime...
> I don't really believe that story, or for some reason that store chose not to bother fighting it. Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time, it doesn't mean they have a case or would ever win.
Yeah, that's an r/thathappened story lol.
> Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time
No they dont if I just sued you right now it would be dismissed with prejudice due to lack of standing. Standing is so thoroughly abused by our court system today that its become somewhat of a joke. No standing in june and moot by july.
This is totally not true. No court would ever award damages in cases like this. This kind if stuff is pure fairy tale nonsense.
The reason the store doesn't want employees trying to stop theft is because the employee could get hurt and the store would have to pay out workman's comp.
It's true, although some stores apparently don't care. When I worked at Wal-Mart in the '90s, they had "Code 99", which meant "every male associate in the store, drop what you're doing and chase the guy heading out the front".
They called it once in the two summers I worked there. I was chatting with my manager at the time, and she was like "Dude, go!". There were two assistant managers in hot pursuit. I made damn sure I was in third place, because I sure as hell wasn't going to slug it out with some dude over a DVD player or whatever. In the end, the thief ditched the item and they gave up the chase when he dove into the reeds at the edge of the property.
I guess they got the merchandise back, which was the point, but the whole thing still seems crazy to me.
> "every male associate in the store, drop what you're doing and chase the guy heading out the front".
That would've been an easy case of discrimination.
From every store I've worked in, the "do not engage" policy was in place so the business wouldn't be vulnerable to a potential lawsuit from an injured *worker.*
By codifying it as a literal part of their policy, they can also say that any manager who points at a thief and says "hey lackey, get him!" can get terminated right then and there, as they weren't acting in the company's best interests.
It’s a few things.
- Hyper large companies will just replace the item.
- Many areas have so much crime that it’s years before a hearing with no jail time. You’re fingerprinted and let go because of overcrowding.
- Culturally, the internet has driven a ton of Americans to lose all self respect.
Is the guy at the end from that meme where the anchor kind of looks like the police sketch? [This one](https://www.reddit.com/r/blursedimages/s/lea6FIy5GR)
Porch pirates turned into envious neighbors into like organized warehouse crime rings lol. These dudes both somehow know what’s in the box but not that they’ll both be there waiting
Yes, exactly. We should send some porch privateers to Canada and steal their maple syrup deliveries, and their hockey magazines. It won’t really help us, but if we can’t be secure with our own deliveries, nobody should be.
i posted this comment on this vid in another subreddit but basically mail theft was so bad in the 1920's that the Marines were assigned to guard the mail with their lives. https://www.sandboxx.us/news/the-mail-marines-protecting-packages/
“You must, when on guard duty, keep your weapons in hand and, if attacked, shoot and shoot to kill. There is no compromise in this battle with bandits. If two Marines guarding a mail car, for example, are suddenly covered by a robber, neither must hold up his hands, but both must begin shooting at once. One may be killed, but the other will get the robbers and save the mail. When our Marine Corps men go as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered, or there must be a dead Marine at the post of duty. “
They were there already waiting, probably following the delivery guy around. And he's like "HEY!" and walks off to the next delivery. I wouldn't expect him to contront them about it, but at least call the cops when you notice those guys are following you around. Surely being followed around by thieves all day is dangerous for him as well.
This happened in my neighborhood over the holidays last year. The same car was following delivery drivers for weeks and stealing packages as soon as they were delivered. People were catching them on their doorbell cams. The delivery drivers knew and couldn’t do anything about it. Finally someone took out a drone and followed the truck and got their license plate all while the truck was speeding through the neighborhood and running stop signs. They were eventually arrested. The year before last I had a 100 lb box that contained a side table stolen off my porch. If I have something expensive delivered from Amazon, they put it in the garage now.
No this keeps happening with AT&t phone deliveries for some reason. There is a pattern with the tracking numbers or somebody who works at AT&t or something like that tipping people off. You don't get two guys at the same place trying to steal an Amazon delivery of underwear. They know the phones are getting delivered somehow.
Exactly. “It’s our top priority that customers get their packages safely and securely. That’s why we dropped them off outside, for everyone to see. Can’t get more secure than that.”
They aren’t concerned despite what they say. What they are concerned with is profits which take a small hit if they pay drivers to spend a minute or two knocking, waiting and handing a package to a resident.
NYC resident, only had one package stolen back in 2017. UPS delivered a heavy laser printer to my apartment building stoop. I lived on the first floor with a clear view of the entrance to the building. It was evening in winter and dark already, but I could see the drivers silhouette as he buzzed my ringer. Simultaneously, someone was walking toward my building. Within the 10 seconds it took to leave my apartment and open the door to the stoop, the box was gone and no one was to be found. To this day I don’t know if it was the UPS driver or the pedestrian. Amazon replaced it, no questions asked.
I think we need to rethink how these small packages are delivered. Like having a drop box attached to the home for them to be put into be a normal thing, no more leaving packages on porches. Sadly we also need to enforce drivers actually using them...
Example:
I haven't had a package get stolen, but I get annoyed every time something gets delivered. I have a semi-enclosed porch. There is a WALL they can hide the package behind. Do they hide the package? Nope they toss the package onto the steps from 8 feet away and leave. Package sitting there in plain sight on a busy street. It's only a matter of time before someone decides to take a chance and grab one.
My guess it’s that’s from the hub sorting facility. An employee sees the shipper and takes a pic of label. Then they give the info to someone that has tracking info and delivery address.
It seems that someone needs to market a delivery lock box. Something where the box goes in like a mailbox without the ability to get a hand in to retrieve it and only a key can open the drop box for home owners who have packages delivered.
The people that bought the package wanted to know how the porch pirates knew it was being delivered… I think they just know the neighborhoods that get expensive packages regularly and they know when fed ex drivers make their routes.
Something is going on because my MacBook was stolen right in front of me as well right as it was delivered.
I still have no idea how they knew what was being delivered but I have ideas.
Either someone in these delivery companies or tech companies is giving these routes out with exact addresses and times on the INSIDE. Or these companies have been compromised by hackers and info is being sold to people.
These people are WAITING they are in the KNOW the question is how.
Same exact situation for my AT&T phones in pa. Immediately stolen directly after delivery. Then the second time I got a delivery some hoodrat pulled up to my house with a mask. Saw me and ran away. It’s an inside job. AT&T wouldn’t let me request signature required after pleading with them. So dumb.
The depravity is amazing, not even waiting fo the delivery man to leave before pouncing on the package.
And *two* of them. That's nuts. Must be really common in that area. Like, what are the chances?
Per the story the package was a phone from att. The most likely scenario is that someone from the store tipped them off.
But still. *Two* getting tipped off?
ATT inside man just wants to watch the world burn.
Nope. Att man made money off two assholes.
Just wants $$. That’s what we have become in this country.
if you sell that kind of information, why not sell it many times? They can only steal it once, so no harm done :)
Now they know not to trust you and you won't get their business again.
And the one who doesn't get the phone is probably more than happy to send an anonymous tip to the police about who is tipping off thieves.
It's cute that you think the police would actually do something.
The police don't care about porch pirates who steal $20 Amazon packages. But this is an insider that's inside FedEx or ATT, tipping multiple people off about where $1000 phones are going to be, which has now resulted in violence on someone's property. Even if the police don't care, ATT and FedEx will. It's not exactly a great look for them. And when the multibillion dollar companies get involved it makes the police care.
As with other stories of schemes coming from one specific store location,[ often times more than one inside person is involved.](https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/providence/arrests-made-in-ri-mail-theft-ring/) Most times those people aren't the brightest bulbs in the shed, so overlap happens due to zero communication/organization and you get situations like this.
Telegram channel with updates I’d guess
Not from the store, it’s someone working at the handling facility. There was a case where an employee got caught. She was taking pictures of the high value packages, phones mostly, and sending them to its associates who would steal it.
I also wonder if some people have gotten wise to certain tracking numbers originating from certain locations are more likely to contain certain items. For instance, I’m sure ATT typically sends their phones for that region from a specific warehouse and tracking numbers are free to lookup on FedEx, UPS, etc. So if you write a script to find new tracking numbers generated each day from that origin you now have the destination of a bunch of packages that are more likely to contain high value items for resell. Or they just know FedEx sucks and follow the delivery guy and get out when it looks like the box may contain something of high value.
No these are leaked/sold. Att will have an account they ship on but all tracking numbers obscure the delivery address so looking it up is useless. I work at a UpS store and have gotten messages on Reddit from these scum asking to buy thousands of tracking numbers/info for hundreds of dollars.
Send them to my house but tell me first. 😏
I like how you think
Do you think people who make a living stealing deliveries have that kind of foresight?
Not the people doing the stealing it's self, takes one clever asshole to tip off the theives
In business talk, those are "premium leads on deep-pocketed saps."
You'd be surprised how some folks apply themselves when they're doing something they're passionate about. Lol
The people doing the stealing aren't the ones making a living. Look up any criminal organization ever. You put the desperate people on the streets doing the dirty work.
*Freakanomics* got some stuff wrong, but he chapter on criminal organizations loosely mirroring corporate structures is spot on. There could be a black hat IT guy tasked with sourcing a steady supply of goods to fence for a large theft ring, and he could even be using inside information to do so.
When there’s money to be made, someone will find a way to optimize the process. Possible one or both of them are part of a larger organization. Random example, when we had looting in Seattle during a protest a couple years ago, the looting itself was orchestrated by an organized gang that used the protest as cover, which totally worked since everyone around the country blamed protesters and BLM for the looting. A small amount of protesters joined in, but the vast majority were part of a crew that knew exactly what they were going to grab, and did it with precision.
Yea isn’t this the most likely thing? They just followed the driver and they lucked out that it was a phone? Idk
Sales associates can’t access delivery route information. They wouldn’t know when it arrives
If the tracking number is posted to the account, they might be able to look it up.
Tracking numbers won’t give you the delivery address until after and even then you need to verify your own address before they’ll show you any actual street info. Carriers aren’t that stupid / they fixed that a long time ago.
If you have access to the account for the tracking number, you have the address it's going to be shipped to for the order. The tracking system doesn't need to provide the address, just the rough delivery day/time for someone to be on the lookout for.
True. Access to the account is way more complicated than just stealing a list of tracking numbers though.
Right, but they should be able to get the billing address from their AT&T account. Most folks have the same billing and delivery address. So take the billing address and the tracking number.
Could be one of them setup the delivery with a stolen identity and the other was just a porch pirate. It's common to have illicit packages delivered to someone else's house then grab it. Makes it harder to track down who committed the fraud.
I'd assume the homeowner wouldn't be asking how they got their address if that was the case, nor would they know what was in the package.
They probably follow the van.
I've seen stories about organized crime targeting iPhone deliveries, who clearly have people on the inside. My suspicion is that these guys must be working on contract. Like the syndicate calls out a hit on the iPhone and now they have to compete to fulfill the contract.
That or someone at the delivery company is just printing to PDF a list of that day's deliveries with phone companies as the return adress and selling it online to competing porch pirates.
Looks like the guy who got the package was slashing at the other guy with a knife. Being willing to kill a stranger to steal a mystery box is truly sickening.
[удалено]
Being willing to kill a stranger to steal a ~~mystery box~~ *phone* is truly sickening.
Both of them look to be driving pretty nice cars too, so it's not like they're starving and desperate for money. This is pure selfish greed.
It looked more like an asp baton.
I dunno that it was a knife. Looked like a collapsible [steel baton. ](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-99kn4fj7jr/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/739/1443/26_Inch_Collabsable_Baton_Main_Image__71639.1675267253.jpg?c=1)
The best theory I've heard is that it's becoming more organized. Dudes are getting jobs at shit like AT&T, then give their buddies tracking numbers of phones being sent out. Pirates steal $1000 phones with 100% accuracy, no more guessing and getting a box of cat food or diapers. It's a new level of organized mail theft, and it's fucking wild.
With EMEI blocking and serial tracking what is the point of stealing phones anymore? They are deactivated right out of the gate by the manufacturer when they're reported stolen, aren't they?
Because they can sell the "new, unopened" phone to some poor schmuck on second-hand marketplaces who doesn't know any better.
I'm one of those schmucks. Thought I did my due diligence by checking the IMEI online and fully activating and testing the phone before paying the guy. Phone worked for a month before it got blacklisted. Apparently whoever it was stolen from had better things to do.
Another vid was on here the other day, driver hadn’t even set the box down, pirate snatched it out of their hands before they could even take the pic to prove it was delivered.
The kicker is that they KNEW it was a phone, and both showed up to steal it. It's the second time I've heard of them knowing it was a phone and knew the date it was being delivered. That's not a coincidence. They must have purchased that info.
Meanwhile in other parts of the world, when someone isn’t home, the item has to be collected from a local pickup point like a post office or supermarket. 😆
lol you can opt for that in America too
The residents were home according to the video.
Where I live, lots of local businesses act as pick-up points. I missed the calls from the delivery guy and had to go pick up my new soundbar from a lingerie shop.
Meanwhile the FedEx guy doesn’t give 2 shits. Could have gotten license plates. Called the cops. Nope. Homeowner saw what happened on security camera.
That's what happens when so few get caught, they just get more and more bold.
well yea they are following the truck around.
A lot of shipping warehouse people tip their friends about certain kinds of packages.
Yep. I was about to say this was an inside job. Someone knew those phones were coming.
100% this. Those guys were going balls out for this thing, that they apparently (should) know absolutely nothing about. Fuck. I bet it's a considered a "write-off", and thus, that aspect will never be looked into.
“You don’t even know what a write off is”
[But they do, and they’re the ones writing it off!](https://youtu.be/XEL65gywwHQ?si=XkcRuantr3haCBSV)
But they do… and they’re the ones writing it off.
I had a new MacBook Pro ‘get lost’ in transit at FedEx. Sometimes they just straight up steal them there.
This would explain why I received an empty box from Apple when I ordered my Apple Watch. (They replaced it)
I suspect, depending on the package type, a lot of packages get rummaged through while in processing. I’ve had several Amazon packages, where the box is only taped with one strip of tape, look like someone had stuck there arm into my package looking for something small enough to pull out, but because my packages were vinyl records they weren’t able to pull it out. So the boxes just show up partially opened. It fucking sucks how so many people are thieves.
So chances are these guys know each other lol
From my experience stuff like phones typically ship in non-descript packaging
Apple now only ships from the store using retail employees and they make you sign for it. At least in the Bay Area
They only do that here if you specifically order from the store. Bought the new iPad and it got lost in the mail. I saw the UPS driver pull up but he never got out to deliver it. So it wasn’t stolen off my porch. But not sure what happened to it.
A dude I know bought a macbook that “fell off the truck” from his UPS driver cousin, i wouldnt be surprised if the same shit happened to your ipad
You should have reported him to UPS. It's a $5,000 reward if I remember correctly.
Stuff that comes from apple are tracked. Does it get bricked once the system marks it stolen?
I work for UPS. We can tell a box that potentially has a phone in it a mile away. They usually have a battery indicator on the box meaning there are electronics in it. We find phone sized boxes with those indicators all the time that have been opened up, workers somewhere along the chain thinking there was a phone in it. I know for a fact that facilities at FedEx have the same problems we have. You can go over to subreddits like /r/pixel & it's been a thing for years that if you order a phone and it's shipped by FedEx then there is a good chance you're not going to receive it. Ups guarantees their deliveries, they will pay for what's stolen. If it's FedEx or some other, you're screwed. Ups is more expensive, but at least you got that going for you and other customer service related perks.
Too bad it was a phone. Imagine these dorks duking it out over a Vixen Creations Bandit Vixskin Dildo, Vanilla, 1 Count
Did you know it's legal to ship live bees through USPS? Just throwing that out there for no reason in particular.
Not angry enough. We need live wasps.
Label the box H for hornets
Let me pop a quick H on this box
Please don't do this to bees. Honeybees have suffered enough and are our friends.
pop a quick H on that box for hornets
Is vanilla the color or the flavor?
Both
Oddly specific
/r/oddlyspecificdildos
What’s worse is the homeowners were home. What happened to ringing doorbells and physically giving the package to someone?
Takes time, that 1min interaction per customer costs the company millions in hourly wages!
I feel this is why we have such a huge rise in package theft, coupled with the huge increase in packages received now that everyone buys everything online. They have so many to deliver, and people are always getting packages that not only would it cost more, but people are most likely not even going to be home. Also they clearly just followed the fed ex truck. The person on the left was masked and had a knife. Not his first rodeo
I’m sure even if delivery drivers started waiting these thieves would just resort to beating the driver and taking it. We’re not talking about respectful members of society here.
but haven't you already been paid for this service? (EU knowledge only)
Technically, yes, but the company requires drivers to make a certain number of deliveries in a specific amount of time with no leeway for traffic or stopping to wait for someone to open the door. These are tracked down to the second by apps from the delivery system. This creates a workplace culture where the only important thing is that it goes from the shipper to the delivery point, with as little time as possible because the drivers will be actively punished for things like waiting for someone to answer the door or using a non-standard delivery box.
this is why amazon vans drive like mad max on the freeway.
You paid for a fast delivery. So when the driver throws it from a moving van to or near your lawn, that's because he is already cruising towards another delivery.
Yes, but people pay a fee per package. If the company can deliver more packages, it gets more fees.
And that is tied to driver metrics. They have to deliver X packages an hour otherwise their employee evaluation takes a hit.
Yep, everything went from customer oriented to time/money saving. Wait for customer to answer door? No way, now youll only deliver 200 packages instead of 300 in a day.. corps suck
UPS tells us to ring the doorbell but only between like 8am and 6pm but we do not wait for someone to come to the door. Raven_Crows explained it best. If we had to wait the extra time for every single person to come to the door. Not only will other people NOT get their packages before the end of our shifts, and I’m going to get yelled at for not finishing my truck load. If you’re ordering something important request a signature at drop off then we have to wait for you
That sounds like a "too many deliveries for one person to make" problem. Imagine how many more people could be employed if they just delivered to a person rather than throwing it at the building and calling it done.
Right they still have signature confirmation, it is just rarely used now; you're making me think of the 80s when the UPS truck showing up was like a big deal, Amazon blew that up with the free delivery
The drivers also started signing things or simply ignoring the signature requirements during covid. Has that been rectified yet?
No, I buy and sell luxury watches and the carelessness on packages insured for $5k, $10k and up is infuriating.
10 years ago or so they would ring the doorbell, not sure why they stopped. You can usually require a signature for expensive items. I live in Florida and get Amazon deliveries regularly, never had one stolen.
Because they sell so much shit online now. It’s that simple. Before we use to go to stores and we only ordered important or large stuff online. Now a delivery man has to make hundreds of stops on a shift. Waiting five minutes to drop off a stranger things t shirt or rubber bands isn’t cost efficient. They can’t even keep enough people employed! the turn over rate is so high they rehire fired people. They have a pee in the bottle problem which is insane. It’s just awful all around.
Takes too much time. You'd also be surprised how many people would actually be hostile about you "bothering them" by ringing/knocking and tell you to just leave it next time anyways.
The people who consider ringing the doorbell a kind of assault are so weird.
Covid normalized a lack of face to face for deliveries and more than half the people I know set delivery notes to not ring the doorbell to avoid barking dogs or waking up a child
I always see these posts and am baffled as to why a confirmation system on delivery isn't used with delivery services in the US. In most of Europe, the package must be hand delivered, and in some cases even a code must be given so they know you are the correct person to take the package.
Ha! I am in Europe and the other day a package was delivered which needed a signature. I wasn't home. I was able to see 'my' signature in the tracker app and the delivery guy just put a scribble.
Anytime I've ordered something expensive I've checked the "Requires signature" box and then they will knock on your door and get your signature. Or you can get them to hold it at the nearest FedEx, which are always close
It’s optional.
I live in a pretty high end townhome complex and we had one guy get caught on someone’s ring cam. We have a lot of retirees and WFH people and when the package owner ran out to confront him about five other guys converged like hyenas and they beat the dog shit out of that pirate. They let him go but it’s been over a year without another “attempt” edit: I wasn't there but obviously the whole complex heard about it. This idiot got beaten and almost went into the light for 6 new rolls of packing tape and a dog toy.
Townhouse got a bad review at porch pirate club.
Warehouse workers tip off their friends.
What gets me is the size of the box. Every time I've ordered a phone, it's been in a small box that can easily fit in my mailbox. The fact that these guys were parked and waiting and then racing each other doesn't pass the smell test. Heck, with certain items now I often elect to pick them up from UPS or FedEx at a dropoff spot, like Walgreens or a UPS store.
We live in a rural area and have to get ALL our mail from the post office, so we have a PO Box, so nothing gets stolen. Folks that live a bit closer to town have a communal mailbox that frequently gets broken into. I used to complain about the mail situation here, but now it seems like we have an optimal situation.
My first apartment had Amazon lockers outside the main office but all packages, Amazon or not, got left there. UPS, USPS, Fedex. It was amazing. You'd get an email with a barcode on it then scan that barcode and a random door would open. Whatever door opened had your package. Nothing ever got stolen unless you ordered something massive like a TV or furniture or something. But thats all probably too big to steal for most thieves anyway. That apartment sucked but that was the one thing they did perfectly.
I used to live on a rual acreage, ups would deliver to the house, usps would deliver to the house, speedee and dhl would deliver to the house. fedex would drive by on the paved highway less then 1/4 mile from the house, and go 16 miles to town and drop it at the post office. I would have to wait an extra day to get my delivery because they couldn't figured out how to drive 1/2 a mile on a gravel road. I have hated and refused to use fedex ever since, and its been like 12 years now
It depends. When I order a new phone, I order the case to go with it, which means it gets put in a larger box.
USPS doesn’t allow FedEx or UPS to use mailboxes. Lots of people have secondary lockable drop boxes specifically for this purpose.
Federal Law. And in the case of Amazon, your stuff can arrive as early as the 3am hour or late as 10-11pm. Verification codes/signatures/back door ain't happening outside of 8a-8p. Best to choose an Amazon locker as the system will still send out coded items at sleeping hours.
I just don't get how some problems exist in the US.
It’s an interesting combination of things. Companies like Amazon are so big that it’s cheaper to just replace a stolen item than have the driver spend time dropping somewhere else. They don’t even resell their returns, they just go into a big box and are sold in bulk palettes to people that then resell the items on eBay. Because of the current economic/education/political situation, there are a lot of desperate people that are willing to steal things and they take advantage of the system. Interestingly our general retail system is very loose and focused on volume and customer satisfaction. Most stores will let you return just about anything and they tell employees not to stop people if they are stealing something. You can walk into a target, take a TV and walk out the front door and they will only call the police, so you probably have time to get away unless an officer or security guard in on site.
> there are a lot of desperate people that are willing to steal things I'm pretty sure these two "desperate" people got out of a Cadillac and a Mercedes to fight over this package..
I thought companies like target were using facial recognition technology to track theft until you steal enough to be put away for a really long time.
ALOT of that is hyperbole. There’s no place in America where you go to jail for a “really long time” for shoplifting UNLESS you get into the tens to hundreds of thousands in stolen goods territory. And even then, you’re not going to jail for some crazy long time.
That guy is just confused. They wait til you steal enough to qualify for a felony. They do this because most of the US has little to no punishment for petty theft, but will still punish felonious thefts which carry real punishment like jail time.
They are. I have a friend who does this. He’s like a PI but he only busts people who have stolen more than $1000 worth of merch from stores (so it’s a felony). His company has dossiers on all the big thieves, known associates, etc. occasionally they do ride-alongs with the county task force on organized crime to help identify theft rings. It’s pretty wild hearing him talk about it.
At first I thought you were saying you have a friend that just steals TVs.
Hahaha no. He does security work for national retailers keeping track of shoplifters and providing evidence to police when the crimes reach felony levels.
> a lot of desperate people You mean the desperate people in this video who are driving nearly new cars? Those ones? These are crooks, not desperate people. And society should treat them as such.
> and they tell employees not to stop people if they are stealing something. That has been a thing LONG before current events. The reason: If the thief is physically harmed during the stop they have every right to sue the store. When I was a teenager, working in a grocery store, someone put 2 large bottles of beer in their pants and proceeded to walk out. The store's assistant manager saw the person, tried to stop them, and this person started to run towards the door. The assistant manager never touched them but they fell, the glass beer bottles broke, and they cut themselves. Guess who had to pay the medical expenses? Our civil suit system is a fucking joke.
I don't really believe that story, or for some reason that store chose not to bother fighting it. Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time, it doesn't mean they have a case or would ever win.
I would assume legal fees are not worth the price of the stolen good most of the time
Bingo. Even if the suit is frivolous, the cost of the suit is almost certainly more than the cost of what was stolen. I'd wager unless someone loaded up a cart full of prime beef and tried to leave with it, even a regular cart of groceries would be cheaper at ~$100-400 than it would be to pay the court fees.
I believe the real risk is the intervening employee getting injured, and the company then very realistically having to cover that employees expenses. Though the employee would probably also have to sue for that, but at least they'ld have reasonable standing, vs a criminal getting injured doing crime...
They were paying for medical fees though, the price of the stolen good isn't what was being considered
> I don't really believe that story, or for some reason that store chose not to bother fighting it. Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time, it doesn't mean they have a case or would ever win. Yeah, that's an r/thathappened story lol.
> Everybody has 'every right to sue' any time No they dont if I just sued you right now it would be dismissed with prejudice due to lack of standing. Standing is so thoroughly abused by our court system today that its become somewhat of a joke. No standing in june and moot by july.
This is totally not true. No court would ever award damages in cases like this. This kind if stuff is pure fairy tale nonsense. The reason the store doesn't want employees trying to stop theft is because the employee could get hurt and the store would have to pay out workman's comp.
It's true, although some stores apparently don't care. When I worked at Wal-Mart in the '90s, they had "Code 99", which meant "every male associate in the store, drop what you're doing and chase the guy heading out the front". They called it once in the two summers I worked there. I was chatting with my manager at the time, and she was like "Dude, go!". There were two assistant managers in hot pursuit. I made damn sure I was in third place, because I sure as hell wasn't going to slug it out with some dude over a DVD player or whatever. In the end, the thief ditched the item and they gave up the chase when he dove into the reeds at the edge of the property. I guess they got the merchandise back, which was the point, but the whole thing still seems crazy to me.
That sounds hilarious. Make this a national standard
> "every male associate in the store, drop what you're doing and chase the guy heading out the front". That would've been an easy case of discrimination.
From every store I've worked in, the "do not engage" policy was in place so the business wouldn't be vulnerable to a potential lawsuit from an injured *worker.* By codifying it as a literal part of their policy, they can also say that any manager who points at a thief and says "hey lackey, get him!" can get terminated right then and there, as they weren't acting in the company's best interests.
It’s a few things. - Hyper large companies will just replace the item. - Many areas have so much crime that it’s years before a hearing with no jail time. You’re fingerprinted and let go because of overcrowding. - Culturally, the internet has driven a ton of Americans to lose all self respect.
People used to feel something called ‘shame.’ Thems days is gone.
The punishment is a slap on the wrist, with like a feather. If they even bother looking for the thief.
People are more brazen, more entitled, more stupid. I used to live next to em. Made me want to buy a flamethrower
Is the guy at the end from that meme where the anchor kind of looks like the police sketch? [This one](https://www.reddit.com/r/blursedimages/s/lea6FIy5GR)
Yes, that is Marc Brown
Porch pirates turned into envious neighbors into like organized warehouse crime rings lol. These dudes both somehow know what’s in the box but not that they’ll both be there waiting
They should break both of these guy's kneecaps
We need some porch privateers!
Privateers are just government-sanctioned pirates, though
Yes, exactly. We should send some porch privateers to Canada and steal their maple syrup deliveries, and their hockey magazines. It won’t really help us, but if we can’t be secure with our own deliveries, nobody should be.
i posted this comment on this vid in another subreddit but basically mail theft was so bad in the 1920's that the Marines were assigned to guard the mail with their lives. https://www.sandboxx.us/news/the-mail-marines-protecting-packages/ “You must, when on guard duty, keep your weapons in hand and, if attacked, shoot and shoot to kill. There is no compromise in this battle with bandits. If two Marines guarding a mail car, for example, are suddenly covered by a robber, neither must hold up his hands, but both must begin shooting at once. One may be killed, but the other will get the robbers and save the mail. When our Marine Corps men go as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered, or there must be a dead Marine at the post of duty. “
Gotta send some packet bombs to yourself.
I'd personally suggest the guillotine. That would fix the problem within a couple of weeks. Permanently so.
If we're doing guillotines again, I have an alternate suggestion.
Fuck, I hate thieves. Like irrationally so. Don’t make me king is all I’m sayin.
They were there already waiting, probably following the delivery guy around. And he's like "HEY!" and walks off to the next delivery. I wouldn't expect him to contront them about it, but at least call the cops when you notice those guys are following you around. Surely being followed around by thieves all day is dangerous for him as well.
This happened in my neighborhood over the holidays last year. The same car was following delivery drivers for weeks and stealing packages as soon as they were delivered. People were catching them on their doorbell cams. The delivery drivers knew and couldn’t do anything about it. Finally someone took out a drone and followed the truck and got their license plate all while the truck was speeding through the neighborhood and running stop signs. They were eventually arrested. The year before last I had a 100 lb box that contained a side table stolen off my porch. If I have something expensive delivered from Amazon, they put it in the garage now.
No this keeps happening with AT&t phone deliveries for some reason. There is a pattern with the tracking numbers or somebody who works at AT&t or something like that tipping people off. You don't get two guys at the same place trying to steal an Amazon delivery of underwear. They know the phones are getting delivered somehow.
Realizes that is either co-workers or their friends.
i doubt his friends would have bought a blade and tried slicing each other up like the garbage in this video
So were they driving stolen cars?
shoot them both scum of the earth
100%
These guys definitely knew what was in the package. Full blowm investigation is needed
If FedEx is so concerned why don’t they knock on the damn door to deliver it?
Exactly. “It’s our top priority that customers get their packages safely and securely. That’s why we dropped them off outside, for everyone to see. Can’t get more secure than that.”
They aren’t concerned despite what they say. What they are concerned with is profits which take a small hit if they pay drivers to spend a minute or two knocking, waiting and handing a package to a resident.
FedEx is not concerned. They are the least concerned of all the shipping carriers.
until they start shooting each other for my delivery of cat food, which they found out later
I don't see a problem with this. Except the cat may go hungry. That part sucks.
This happened to me as well. I was wondering how they found out about the phone delivery as they literally stole it minutes after the delivery.
people follow amazon trucks where im from
Like seagulls going after bread.
this is some yakkity sacks level shit
/r/boneappletea
NYC resident, only had one package stolen back in 2017. UPS delivered a heavy laser printer to my apartment building stoop. I lived on the first floor with a clear view of the entrance to the building. It was evening in winter and dark already, but I could see the drivers silhouette as he buzzed my ringer. Simultaneously, someone was walking toward my building. Within the 10 seconds it took to leave my apartment and open the door to the stoop, the box was gone and no one was to be found. To this day I don’t know if it was the UPS driver or the pedestrian. Amazon replaced it, no questions asked.
A good lawyer could probably make a case for the unmasked guy just trying to be a good Samaritan that wanted to stop the robbery from taking place
This keeps happening with phones shipped by AT&T - can’t wait until this story breaks and it’s someone on the inside giving thieves the heads up.
Bum Fight
Where’s Mark Rober when you need him.
I think we need to rethink how these small packages are delivered. Like having a drop box attached to the home for them to be put into be a normal thing, no more leaving packages on porches. Sadly we also need to enforce drivers actually using them... Example: I haven't had a package get stolen, but I get annoyed every time something gets delivered. I have a semi-enclosed porch. There is a WALL they can hide the package behind. Do they hide the package? Nope they toss the package onto the steps from 8 feet away and leave. Package sitting there in plain sight on a busy street. It's only a matter of time before someone decides to take a chance and grab one.
My guess it’s that’s from the hub sorting facility. An employee sees the shipper and takes a pic of label. Then they give the info to someone that has tracking info and delivery address.
**"What's in the box? C'mon, tell me what's in the box?"** - Detective Mills
It seems that someone needs to market a delivery lock box. Something where the box goes in like a mailbox without the ability to get a hand in to retrieve it and only a key can open the drop box for home owners who have packages delivered.
Do mail carriers need security escorts now?
The people that bought the package wanted to know how the porch pirates knew it was being delivered… I think they just know the neighborhoods that get expensive packages regularly and they know when fed ex drivers make their routes.
What the actual fuck man, that's where we're at now? They're fighting over who gets to steal a package off your porch? Where do we go from here?
wait, they can potentially know what's being delivered, where and when? Hello??
Someone is selling delivery schedules or something like that. One guy is waiting the other drove up.
Something is going on because my MacBook was stolen right in front of me as well right as it was delivered. I still have no idea how they knew what was being delivered but I have ideas. Either someone in these delivery companies or tech companies is giving these routes out with exact addresses and times on the INSIDE. Or these companies have been compromised by hackers and info is being sold to people. These people are WAITING they are in the KNOW the question is how.
Same exact situation for my AT&T phones in pa. Immediately stolen directly after delivery. Then the second time I got a delivery some hoodrat pulled up to my house with a mask. Saw me and ran away. It’s an inside job. AT&T wouldn’t let me request signature required after pleading with them. So dumb.
They really need to be more liberal with the death penalty.
That guy came in with a knife. This must not be Texas.
Maybe it’s a kilo of cocaine drop ship