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Protect your packages from 'porch pirates'

More packages mean more opportunities for theft. Learn how to can protect your property.

DECATUR, Ala. — With more online shopping than every before, record numbers of packages are arriving on porches, in mail boxes, and on front steps.

With more packages come more opportunities for 'porch pirates' to make off with your deliveries The Decatur Police have tips to help you protect your goods;

  • Schedule packages to be delivered when someone is home.
  • Track your packages and delivery online.
  • Require a signature upon delivery.
  • If no one can be home, authorize the carrier to leave it in a specified, out-of-sight location.
  • Install a security camera.

Protecting yourself and your personal information while shopping online is important, too.

Tricia Pruitt, Regional Vice President, Better Business Bureau of North Alabama, has tips that will help you shop safely:                                                    

  • Buy from reputable sellers                                       
  • Sometimes too good to be true turns out to be just that.
  • Compare prices
  • Watch out for people who advertise something extremely cheap that happens to be in high demand. You may pay and there is no item to show for it.         
  • Always use a credit card. Many credit cards offer buyer protection, making then the safest way to shop if something goes wrong.

Shane Hammett, Vice President of IT & Cyber Security, ITCS Secure Solutions, says that with more people shopping online this year, "Not only is there more activity online, there's also more targeting going on from the bad actors." 

Hammett shared some tips for safe shopping online:         

  • Make sure your systems are up to date. Making sure that you have done all the updates that are needed, both for your operating system as well as your internet browser of choice. 
  •  Make sure that you changed your passwords recently. 
  • Never click on a link that you get in an email, a text, or anything like that. Always copy and paste information like that into your browser.
  • And again, always remember when it comes to shopping online, "If it's too good of a deal, then there is a good chance it really is," said Hammett.

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