iPhones are being stolen from doorsteps immediately after delivery. Here's how you can stop thieves.
HINGHAM - Police on Boston's South Shore are looking for help tracking down iPhone thieves who are stealing the devices from doorsteps as soon as they're delivered.
Hingham Police say it's happened twice so far this summer in town.
First iPhone theft
The first incident happened back on May 30, just after a Federal Express truck delivered an iPhone and Air Pods to a home on Bel Air Road. Police said an SUV stopped at the house ten seconds after the truck drove away. Two men wearing blue Amazon vests got out. One of them had an empty box and he left it on the porch and took off with the two Apple packages.
Hingham Police released a surveillance photo of him Friday.
"The man who stole the packages was black, wearing an orange tee shirt, grey pants, wearing Crocs with the blue Amazon delivery vest over his tee shirt," they said in a statement.
The two men left in the SUV, which was described as a "dark colored Jeep Patriot with dark colored rims."
Second iPhone theft
The latest theft was last week. Hingham Police said a FedEx truck delivered five iPhones to a home on Daley Road on July 3. Minutes later, they were all stolen from the front steps. Investigators do not yet have a description of a suspect or suspects in this case.
Similar Amazon impersonator thefts
Last month, police in Gardner, Massachusetts said thieves wearing Amazon vests were stealing packages from homes in town just minutes after they were delivered. Some of the stolen items were phones. Investigators said, in some cases, the thieves would switch packages with an empty box.
Similar thefts were also reported on Long Island last fall in Nassau County, New York.
How to stop iPhone delivery thefts
Hingham Police said if you're planning to have a new phone delivered to your home they recommend you require a signature with the delivery or have the phone sent directly to the store and pick it up in person.
If you can't do either of those suggestions, Amazon also offers several tips on its website for protecting your packages from porch pirates. They include giving drivers specific instructions on where they could hide your packages for you, sharing tracking instructions with friends and family, or scheduling a delivery window to make sure you're home when the package arrives.
Anyone with information about the Hingham thefts is asked to call Hingham Police at 781-741-1443.