Survey Finds 1 in 5 Americans Were Victims of Porch Pirates Since the Start of COVID-19 Stay-Home Orders

NEW YORK, July 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The stay-at-home orders that have been implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused an uptick in package deliveries – and thieves have taken notice. According to a new survey from ValuePenguin.com by LendingTree - 18% of Americans have experienced package theft in the past four months, and these short-term thefts are part of a larger problem that consumers face throughout the course of a normal year. Here are the key findings:

• 1 in 5 Americans reported being victims of porch piracy amid the coronavirus crisis with 18% having had a package or delivery stolen since March. 54% of consumers reported multiple package thefts in the past 12 months. And 33% knew someone who's had a package stolen during the quarantine.
• Americans lost an average of $106 to porch piracy, with respondents reporting losses as high as $4,800 from a single package. About 30% of package theft victims did not get all of their money back, and less than half of victims said the thief was caught.
• During the pandemic, Gen Xers and Millennials accounted for more than 42% of package thefts, and 64% of incidents since last year. However, Americans 75 years and older lost the most money to porch piracy – an average of $210 in the past 12 months.
• 40% of package thefts happened to residents of apartment buildings. Residents of duplex homes were also likely to experience theft: more than one-quarter of the package thefts during the pandemic happened to residents of duplex homes.
• 57% of stolen packages were delivered by Amazon. Groceries delivered by services like HelloFresh and Instacart made up 14% of stolen packages, but grocery package thefts decreased during the pandemic, despite the increase in the use of these services.
• Despite the increase in package theft, 33% of consumers have taken no action to prevent package thefts within the past year. About 35% of all residents who did take precautions opted to receive tracking notifications – the most common preventative measure – while 20% installed doorbell cameras. Other measures, like requiring signatures upon delivery, and purchasing package delivery insurance, were not so common.

According to Andrew Hurst, a research analyst at ValuePenguin.com, "The quarantine has become the perfect opportunity for porch pirates, with home delivery orders increasing by nearly 40% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic." He adds, "It's worrying that a significant number of Americans are not taking the appropriate measures to protect themselves against future thefts."

ValuePenguin.com commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey of 1,020 Americans, with the sample base proportioned to represent the overall population. The survey was fielded in June 2020. To view the full report, visit: https://www.valuepenguin.com/nearly-one-in-five-consumers-experienced-package-theft-since-start-of-quarantine

About ValuePenguin.com: ValuePenguin.com, part of LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE), is a personal finance website that conducts in-depth research and provides objective analysis to help guide consumers to the best financial decisions. ValuePenguin focuses on value, assessing whether the return of a particular decision is worth the cost or risk of that option, and how this stacks up with the other possible choices they may have. For more information, please visit www.valuepenguin.com, like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter @ValuePenguin.

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SOURCE ValuePenguin.com

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