VIDEO: Porch pirates stealing packages in Cleveland, posing as legit delivery drivers
CLEVELAND (WJW) — People who live in one Cleveland neighborhood are fed up with a crime that has become all too common.
Porch pirates are stealing packages, but are becoming harder to spot, posing as legitimate delivery drivers.
It is unclear if the same person is committing the crimes, but that is a possibility.
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Some of the neighbors filed reports with Cleveland police, the United States Postal Service and Amazon. Fortunately, they had video proof to back up their claims.
Just before 9:30 a.m. Saturday, someone is seen walking up to a home in Cleveland’s Edgewater neighborhood on the west side.
“A package came in, in the morning and then we saw the Ring camera to make sure that package arrived safely,” said resident Sally Ro.
The video shows a yellow box, at the bottom of the screen, that Sally Ro says had just been delivered ten minutes earlier by the U.S. Postal Service.
“We noticed that there was a guy a few minutes later with an Amazon vest and then coming in with an empty box and then picking up our own package, which I would say pretty expensive, around like $300, $400 package,” said Ro.
Ro says it was a nail gun that she and her husband had been waiting for.
They already felt violated and frustrated when they found out the same thing happened to their neighbor a few nights before. That neighbor was unavailable for an interview, but he sent us his ring-cam video.
It appears a van with headlights pulls into the yard, and someone walks up to the porch.
The video shows someone, wearing what appears to be an Amazon vest simply take the packages from the porch, get back into the van and drive away.
“We want to make sure that we’re locating who this might be and if they are affiliated at all with Amazon,” said Austin Stowe, Amazon spokesperson.
Stowe says there are several tips people can keep in mind when getting packages delivered to their home.
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“One involves hidden drop off locations, so what I do when I’m out of town is I might have my package delivered to my back porch, others do it on the side of their house or hidden locations that might be safe,” he said.
Stowe says an alternate delivery location is an option too.
“This could be a local grocery store, a local apartment building, or Whole Foods, since Amazon owns Whole Foods … also through Amazon lockers,” said the spokesperson.
“It’s our house, it happened in front of our porch,” said Ro. “It should have been like a safe place for us, but we no longer feel comfortable in our own home anymore … strangers coming in and picking up our own personal belongings…we didn’t feel safe.”
Ro says it appears the person in the Amazon jacket was following the postal truck. The Amazon spokesperson says it is unclear whether the person is an actual Amazon employee, third party contractor or someone who got their hands on an Amazon jacket.
The neighbors say they are also frustrated that this has also been happening in surrounding neighborhoods for months.
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