Over the holiday season, packages from Amazon and others have been whizzing all over the country. Some of these will end up waiting on our doorsteps until we arrive home from work. Unfortunately, this leaves them vulnerable to thieves. Yep, people have been stealing packages off people’s doorsteps even if they contain Christmas presents. Shocking, I know, but there is good news to help ease your holiday worries.

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The police are using fake Amazon packages to try and catch thieves

The Associated Press reported that police in Jersey City ran sting operations in the run-up to Christmas, in order to tackle a growing problem up and down the country. They’ve been using fake Amazon packages with GPS transmitters inside them to catch the thieves red-handed. They’ve also been using doorbell cameras on the homes where they’ve been leaving their special packages to try and catch an image of the thieves doing the dirty deed.

These sting operations have been taking place in areas where the police have been receiving more reports of package theft. There are limits to the operation, but it has seen success. Obviously, the police can’t deliver as many packages as Amazon, but one of the sting packages was stolen a mere three minutes after if it was put out on somebody’s porch. The suspect was caught. Hopefully, word of these types of sting operation will spread and act as a deterrent that will make thieves think twice before they make off with that Amazon box.

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Actions like these Jersey City sting operations are important as package theft has developed into a very real problem. Internet shopping is now a huge business and the amount of stuff we buy online grows every year. According to Adobe Analytics, we’ll have spent a massive $124.1 billion dollars online in November and December alone. This is up nearly 15% over last year. The more packages we buy, the more chances that somebody will take one of them before we get home. Between 8-30% of Americans have had a package stolen at some point.

In the meantime, there are a few tips you can follow to try and stop thieves from stealing your packages.

How to keep your packages from getting stolen

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