Christmas Gifts Are Being Stolen From Oklahoma Porches

Last minute Christmas shoppers are out in full force, and some shoppers in Oklahoma are opting for online deliveries. Although online shopping can be most convenient, it can pose greater risks of theft. And during the holiday season is when cases of porch thefts spike.

Vivint, a home security company, put together a holiday package theft report and found that in 2023, 34 percent of packages stolen that year included holiday gifts. On average, those package thefts costs shoppers $134, and six percent of them lost over $500 worth of goods to porch pirates. And, unfortunately, one in five people spent $100 replacing stolen gifts while 17 percent couldn't afford to.

After Black Friday this year, Oklahoma started to see a spike in porch piracy incidents. News 9 covered a porch piracy incident in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, that occurred in early December. The local police department stated that they see more than 30 package thefts each year and the incidents peak in November and December.

Oklahoma has the second-highest incident rates for package theft.

Earlier this year, Forbes Home issued a report of the worst states for porch pirates in 2024, and Oklahoma ranked as the second-highest for porch theft incidents. The median value of goods stolen via porch theft is $77 in Oklahoma.

Of packages stolen across the United States, a majority of porch piracy occurs in cities with 20 percent occurring in suburban areas and 10 percent in rural. An those packages include all major delivery services but Amazon by far is stolen the most at 52 percent of stolen packages other thefts include 43 percent USPS packages, 38 percent UPS, 25 percent FedEx and 10 percent DHL.

How to prevent porch pirate thefts.

There are a few practices Oklahomans can do to prevent porch pirate thefts, including package tracking, scheduling deliveries, requiring a signature, have packages delivered to a P.O. box or purchase insurance for your packages.

You could also be like us here at the station and have your packages delivered to your work! But you'll definitely want to check with your manager first.

Have you had any Christmas gifts stolen?

Have you had packages containing Christmas gifts stolen? Tell us about it on our station app and let us know what happened and what you did. Did you buy another gift or what?

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