This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube news segment titled "Are Porch Pirates hacking Tracking Codes?" (ABC World News Tonight) published Oct 25, 2015. The excerpt is an English TV news report featuring ABC anchors, correspondent Kana Whitworth, a Tarzana homeowner (Rick Deckman), and comments referencing the LAPD and UPS. The piece covers package thefts ('porch pirates') possibly using smartphone apps to track deliveries, the resulting arrest, UPS denying a technology compromise, and offers viewer safety tips (scheduling deliveries, office drop-off, text alerts, home security).
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And hacking your holidays? Crooks intercepting packages right at your front door. Is new technology helping thieves just as the biggest online shopping season ever is about to begin?
This is ABC World News Tonight.
Still ahead tonight, package thieves with a possible new game plan. This guy caught red-handed swiping packages. How police say he may have been able to track them down with just a smartphone. Welcome back. With the holiday season approaching and shipping about to surge, you may not be the only one tracking that package you ordered online. Some thieves may have figured out a high-tech way to get to your delivery way before you do. Here's ABC's Kana Whitworth.
It's your typical home delivery— packages left on the porch by the UPS driver. But watch what happens next. A U-Haul van backing into the driveway. The driver getting out and getting away with 2 packages.
He picked the wrong house.
Tarzana homeowner Rick Deckman caught it all on his home surveillance system. Police tracking a license plate from the U-Haul, arresting a man and a woman.
There was just piles and piles of just stuff and boxes and, and, uh, mail.
And the alleged thieves perhaps turning to technology. The Los Angeles Police Department saying the suspects were tracking UPS trucks on a phone app and attempting to locate packages without a tracking number. UPS denies its technology was compromised.
If the LA police is saying that they found some type of evidence or some type of searches, that means that the, the, the will is there, uh, to crack that code.
And as these porch pickups increase, police say to be more vigilant. All of this as online retail sales soar to $334 billion this year. Experts say you can always have your delivery scheduled for a time when you're home, or have your packages dropped off at your office and sign up for text alerts. And Tom, a lot of people are are now installing home security systems.
