Black Friday warning as 'porch pirates' steal £380million worth of parcels from doorstops

Anyone expecting an online present this Black Friday and successful the run-up to Christmas has been warned an detonation successful the fig of crooks pinching items from doorsteps

A increasing service of “porch pirates” stole astir £380million worthy of items from people’s doorsteps past year, figures person revealed.

Organised gangs are cashing successful connected a roar successful net buying to pinch deliveries near by couriers. Many are targeting communal areas successful blocks of flats to steal. The informing comes up of Black Friday and the run-up to Christmas, which is apt to beryllium affluent pickings for crooks.

Technology institution Quadient, which submitted of Freedom of Information requests to constabulary forces, recovered the mean worth of stolen parcels changeable up by 52% successful the past 12 months, from £66.50 successful 2023, to £102 this year. The full worth of goods taken reached £376.6million. The FOI information shows radical successful blocks of flats are 24% much apt to beryllium victims of parcel theft than those surviving successful a house, suggesting thieves are capitalising connected opportunities to bargain aggregate parcels successful 1 spell from communal areas.

Research alongside the information suggests 13% of UK households – astatine slightest 3.69 cardinal homes – had astatine slightest 1 parcel stolen successful the past year. Katia Bourgeais-Crémel, from Quadient, said: “No location is immune to the plague of parcel theft, and arsenic higher worth items are being stolen, the UK nationalist needs to beryllium particularly vigilant implicit the holidays. Flats are present premier targets for structure pirates arsenic they usage minimum effort for maximum profit, swiping aggregate items astatine once. This being said, little nonmigratory footfall astir houses means they are charismatic to opportunistic thieves.”

The FOI uncovered immoderate immense variations successful reports of parcel theft crossed antithetic regions, from arsenic precocious arsenic £202.20 successful Northumbria, to £4.24 successful Derbyshire. Bedfordshire reported the highest fig of thefts, astatine 701. The areas slightest apt to person a parcel stolen were Norwich, wherever conscionable 3% of residents said they had been a victim, on with Newcastle (5%) and Brighton (5%).