The holiday season is a bustling time for the United Parcel Service (UPS), with their dedicated team of brown-clad drivers and runners tirelessly delivering millions of packages each day from Black Friday to Christmas Eve. However, amidst the flurry of activity, there is also an unfortunate rise in theft. Although these thefts may appear trivial, they have the power to shatter the joy of the holiday season for families eagerly anticipating their packages.
A San Luis Obispo mom watched a fake UPS driver leave with her family’s Christmas gifts– and she wasn’t alone
Sheryl Miles was eagerly anticipating the arrival of a few remaining Christmas gifts for her newborn child and the office Secret Santa game on Monday. Knowing that there might be some last-minute Amazon deliveries, she wasn’t surprised when she heard a knock on her door. Like many frequent Amazon shoppers, she made the decision to collect the packages later and continue with her day.
Miles glanced at her security cameras and mobile apps, reassuring herself that a delivery person had arrived and Amazon had confirmed the delivery. However, when she eagerly opened her door to retrieve the packages, she was met with disappointment – an empty porch. Perplexed, she decided to review the camera footage again. To her surprise, Miles noticed a second UPS driver approaching her door at around 2:00 p.m.
In a shocking turn of events, the UPS driver swiftly gathered the packages from her doorstep and vanished without a trace. Adorned in a UPS vest over his attire, the imposter delivery person was caught on camera in the midst of the deceitful act. However, the footage failed to capture any evidence of him boarding a UPS truck or any other mode of transportation.
Miles felt particularly devastated by the incident as the packages were meant to be Christmas gifts. Among the gifts were items intended for her young child, while others were Secret Santa presents for her colleagues. Expressing her distress, Miles shared with The Tribune, “It was a terrible experience because those were Christmas presents.”
Unfortunately, the San Luis Obispo mom was not the only one who fell prey to a fake UPS driver. Miles shared her ordeal on Nextdoor, a community-focused social media platform. To her dismay, many of her neighbors chimed in, recounting similar incidents where their packages were also targeted. Heartbreakingly, some of them confessed that their children’s presents had been stolen by these “porch pirates.”
