Be alert when receiving a home delivery, especially if its a high value package
Criminals target courier drivers with high-end goods or who are receiving cash for payment.
Package thieves continue to torment delivery drivers, businesses and people waiting for their parcels.
Clive Maher of SCP Security said, “There has been an uptick in these cases recently. Cases where drivers are transporting high value goods like electronics where criminals know who the driver is and intercept the delivery at gunpoint. Luckily so far, no shots have been fired and nobody harmed during these robberies in our area.”
Maher added people receiving packages should ‘always be aware of your surroundings when receiving packages because a delivery crime could become a home invasion’.
Fairland Police Station Station Commander Lieutenant Colonel Clive de Freitas said, “Couriers are seen as a soft target as it is normally one driver in a vehicle pulling into a driveway. They are often distracted and have their backs to the road while dealing with the client. It is easy for criminals to hold them at gunpoint, take the packages and drive away.
“Companies are constantly increasing security measures to protect their drivers and vehicles with GPS monitoring, video footage, alarms, and installing cages and so on, but it is a reality, and it is happening.”
Recently a driver from a well-known e-commerce company asked a Northcliff resident for assistance because he could not find the delivery address for a package. It was an abandoned property and the method of payment for the goods was listed as cash, making him a target and he felt uneasy. They decided he should err on the side of caution, and he left.
Maher said, “This was the safest thing to do as it’s possible criminals were waiting at the abandoned house for the delivery which they could steal without paying as the method for payment was in cash.”
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