Porch Pirates Are Stealing AT&T iPhones Delivered by FedEx (msn.com)
- Reference: 0175227183
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/10/1447241/porch-pirates-are-stealing-att-iphones-delivered-by-fedex
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/porch-pirates-are-stealing-at-t-iphones-delivered-by-fedex/ar-AA1rZmIN
> 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.
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> "They know what's getting delivered and the location," said Detective Lt. Matt Arsenault from the Gardner Police Department in Massachusetts, which is investigating several recent thefts. "They meet the delivery driver at the front door and take it." Since the pandemic, parcel carriers have reported a rise in porch thefts as workers have returned to offices and fewer people are home during the day to receive packages. Now, a spate of thefts that began a few months ago is targeting FedEx deliveries for AT&T. The two companies said they were working with law enforcement to investigate, and declined to disclose how many such packages have been stolen.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/porch-pirates-are-stealing-at-t-iphones-delivered-by-fedex/ar-AA1rZmIN
Who is at fault here? (Score:3)
Porch pirates deserve whatever they get. However...
> AT&T typically doesn't require signature on delivery
Why would you not require signature on a small, easily stolen package worth several $hundred? Seriously?
Re: Who is at fault here? (Score:3)
Greed. A delivery driver waiting at the door for a signature isn't back in the van on their way to the next delivery.
Re: (Score:2)
> Greed. A delivery driver waiting at the door for a signature isn't back in the van on their way to the next delivery.
This doesn't make any sense. FedEx doesn't make the decision to require signature or not. AT&T does (just like Google does when you buy a Pixel from the Google Store and Samsung does when you buy a device from them). And why would they care if the FedEx people are in the truck on their way to the next delivery?
Re: Who is at fault here? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, but FedEx charges more if requiring a signature, about $10.
Re: (Score:3)
> No, but FedEx charges more if requiring a signature, about $10.
Sure, but looking it up, it's just shy of $7 per package for you and me walking into a FedEx and shipping something. It is going to be way, WAY less for a large commercial contract. I'd actually be shocked if it's more than $1-2 on that big of a contract. But OP's post implies it's a FedEx decision anyway, since they'd be the ones profiting from a driver back in the truck to the next delivery.
2024 rates: [1]https://www.fedex.com/content/... [fedex.com]
[1] https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/services/surcharge_and_fee_changes_2024.pdf
Re:Who is at fault here? (Score:4, Interesting)
No one is home to sign for it because they are at work.
Maybe UPS and FedEx should deliver packages in the evening. But when are people home and still awake? It's not terribly consistent.
I have had personal packages needing signatures delivered to work, but Management wasn't that keen on the idea.
Re: (Score:2)
> No one is home to sign for it because they are at work.
Which is why I have such pricey and sensitive packages delivered to my work address. My Shipping and Receiving folks will sign for it (if needed) and set it aside from the company's shipments, in a secure and climate-controlled space until I can retrieve it at leisure.
I realize this is not available to everyone, but it sure is nice for me.
Re:Who is at fault here? (Score:4, Interesting)
The system can't handle the backlog if you required a signature on most things valued over a few hundred dollars. This isn't 20 years ago - the volume of home courier receipts in most areas is so large that even just attempting multiple deliveries before dropping them at regional centres for customer pickup would overrun the capability of of the delivery vans to house the day's content. Amazon did the math a long time ago. It's cheaper to deal with the theft than to wait for signatures.
If you'd have told be in 2000 that in 2024 I'd be receiving more than 10 deliveries in a month I'd have laughed at the notion. Now, on the rare occasion I receive a package that requires a signature, I find it a large pain in the ass.
Longstanding Problem (Score:4, Informative)
Many years ago, when the iPhone 4s was coming out, I had my phone stolen by someone who evidently had access to phones in the Fedex distribution center (or perhaps somewhere else in the distribution chain). I was delivered an empty iPhone box with no phone in it. Fortunately, AT&T sent me a new phone at no charge.
Insider Threat (Score:3)
Just where though? Somebody at AT&T or somebody at FedEx?
What? (Score:1)
I had to sign for mine, and I live in an area where I have never had a package taken. For sure something is not right here, sounds like an inside job.
Tracking numbers? (Score:4, Insightful)
How do the thieves get the tracking numbers? How do they figure out the detailed address from the tracking number?
Re: (Score:2)
This is my question as well.
According to TFA, the two people caught by police flew in to TX and rented a car in order to drive around neighborhoods.
This seems to imply that there was more information available to these individuals than just tracking numbers since, AFAIK, tracking a package doesn't reveal any address information (I don't recall the last time I tracked a package though).
Re: (Score:2)
Update: Perhaps this is unique to FedEx?
[1]https://www.fedex.com/en-ae/cu... [fedex.com]
When I track a package using USPS, the street address is never revealed, only the city, state and zip code.
[1] https://www.fedex.com/en-ae/customer-support/faq/sending/tracking-questions/package-shipped-to-correct-address.html
How stupid to just leave it on the porch (Score:1)
Well I hope the full cost of this falls to AT&T.
In the UK the law is that until a parcel is in your hands, it is not delivered.
Oddly enough as a result signature AND per-delivery pin-code are required by phone companies over here delivering mobile phones.
(and a lot of other things).
Why is there still incentive to steal phones? (Score:2)
What I have never understood is why we allow there to be a demand for stolen phones. How come when a phone is stolen, the phone serial number (IMEI) isn't blacklisted, rendering the phone useless?
I still don't understand (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a very backward way to deliver packages: dropping them on the porch, in plain sight.
I don't get it. Why is this still happening?
Re: (Score:2)
My actual question was: "Why dropping a package off on a porch, unattended, is still a thing?"
Re: (Score:3)
This is very easy to figure out.
There's three possible scenarios, and I'll put my money on "inside source"
a) Inside source - the phone is ordered online / over the phone / from a store / third party store / third party online sales
When the label is printed (AT&T has used Fedex exclusively since the 2000's and only UPS and USPS employees ever get phones delivered by UPS/USPS, all others are Fedex) the warehouse schedules the Fedex delivery, and the trucks for each neighborhood (Eg zip code) are expected
Re: (Score:2)
> As for "Why do couriers drop phones off during the day" .... because people should be working at home. If you order a phone and you aren't going to be home for the delivery, then you should be having that phone dropped off at your office.
My actual question was: "Why dropping a package off on a porch, unattended, is still a thing?"
Re: I still don't understand (Score:2)
In Central Europe, there are automated delivery boxes all over the place, typically at municipal buildings, where you can go and pick up your purchases. It works brilliantly.
Re: (Score:2)
it's an american thing, don't get it either. my guess would be very low population density but ... doesn't really make sense either so ... maybe just a bizarre tradition?
where i live (and i guess mostly everywhere) packages get delivered in person, if absent then to a neighboor or deposited somewhere according to either instructions specified in advance on the order or by the recipient contacted via phone. if it is something of some value then it probably needs a signature or even a pass code. if all fails
Re: (Score:2)
You are completely correct, civilization is going backwards. There will become a tipping point where civilization is once again intolerant of theft.
It's still happening because we collectively tolerate someone taking our things.
UPS and Fedex have very distinct delivery vehicles and a dress code.
Amazon is a clusterfuck of random vehicles, half the time around here it is a rental from the local Ryder affiliate. The dress code is 'dress to not be run over'. The thieves may or may not be actual Amazon d