Hoosiers spent millions online shopping on Cyber Monday and undoubtedly some of those items are already on the way. This is also prime season for porch pirates to come along and snag your delivered packages off your front porch.

“We’ve seen that uptick with package delivery service providers even with mail during the COVID-era where individuals were taking items that weren’t theirs and wrongfully doing so,” said Ofc. Tommy Thompson with Indianapolis Metro Police on WISH-TV.

Thompson said there are several different ways you can deter porch pirates such as surveillance cameras like Ring doorbells. You can also invest in a special lockbox that only you, mail carriers, and package handlers have access to.

Online retailers like Amazon also have their own security suggestions.

“One of them is through map tracking,” said Sharyn Ghacham, a spokesperson for Amazon. “This allows customers to track their packages in real-time so they know when the package is delivered on their front porch.”

Ghacham said Amazon also has a ‘hidden drop-off location’ option where you can direct a package handler to place you package in a specific spot on your property that puts it out of plain sight.