GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With the holiday season in full swing, thousands of shoppers are waiting for packages to arrive in the mail.
However, not all packages make it to their destination safely. That's why the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of West Michigan is providing tips to ensure package security.
"This happens every year, and people are going to take advantage by driving through neighborhoods and grabbing those packages off your porch while you're not home," said Katie Grevious, marketing and community relations manager at the BBB of West Michigan.
She said planning ahead can help keep your packages safe.
"It's really important that you are keeping track of what you've ordered, when it's supposed to arrive, and try to plan those things around you being home, organizing maybe a neighbor pick it up, or using an alternative drop off method," said Grevious.
According to a Security.org study, package thieves or "porch pirates" stole more than $18 billion in packages over the last year. Grevious said it's important to be on the lookout for scammers during the holiday season.
"If you get a text message that says there was an issue with your shipping of your package, don't click on any links. Don't call any numbers that they put in those texts. Those are likely scammers just trying to make you click on a link and then either download malware to your device or get you to enter a fake login so that now they have the login information to the real account that you have," said Grevious.
She said it's best to go through the company you're receiving the shipment from directly if anything seems suspicious.
Grievous advised shoppers to keep track of their deliveries, pay attention to message senders, avoid giving personal information to strangers and not leave packages unattended.
She told 13 ON YOUR SIDE that if you do accidentally give out your information to the wrong person, there are resources that you can use to help.
"If you gave any payment information, you want to contact your bank immediately so that they can put a hold on any future charges that are coming through. The Better Business Bureau actually has this really cool new tool. It's a scam survival kit. So right on our website, bbb.org you can click on it. It'll ask you a couple questions to kind of filter down what's really going on in your specific situation, and then give you advice on all the steps you need to take to maybe try to get a refund," said Grevious.