how ecommerce cybercrime has grown in 2021

Can E commerce packaging reduce cybercrime?

According to the Postal Service, 1.7 million parcels are stolen or go missing from front porches across the country every day. As a result of the increase in the number of vendors on Amazon, Amazon, as well as other ecommerce merchants and sellers, are losing millions of dollars.

Package theft has been steadily increasing in the United States, with 90,000 shipments going missing per day in New York City alone in 2019, a 20 percent rise from four years ago. Would fake reviews fall into the same classification of crime, to the end user?

The expansion of online retail sales in recent years has led in an increase in package theft, with the total value of stolen shipments reaching over $9 billion yearly. Cybercrime also known as technology crime is a major threat for both e-commerce behemoths like Amazon, AliBaba, and Etsy and smaller firms.

Online purchase opens up a wealth of new possibilities. Cyber thieves, for example, now have their own industry of cutting-edge solutions to their problems. Cyber-insurance has not yet reached the delivery side of cybercrime, but it will in the near future.
Doorbell cameras, automatic locks, porch lockers, and other pickup sites are examples of Internet of Things (IoT) security technologies. Attempts are being made by large and small businesses, as well as ordinary citizens, to derail the thieves’ ambitions.

We wanted to find out who suffers the most when a package goes missing, as well as what Amazon and other organizations are trying to prevent this problem from occurring in the first place.
According to the findings of a 2019 research conducted by insuranceQuotes.com, about one out of every five Americans has had a package stolen.

Box theft is growing more common in the United States, with 36% of respondents claiming that their package was taken at least once.

According to a new C+R research poll, the average cost of replacing a stolen item is $109, a cost that is frequently passed on to the seller, who is liable for the refund or replacement.
The majority of the damage is being absorbed by the company that is doing the most selling, which in this case is Amazon.

Online Retailers Like Amazon Prime are fitting the bill

Members of Amazon Prime report getting 51 packages at their homes on average per year, while all respondents reported spending an average of $222 per month on online purchases. However, 42 percent of purchasers say they avoid buying expensive things online due to the potential of theft, meaning that Amazon is losing even more sales revenue than it already is. More than $25 million in products and services are stolen every day, resulting in a total loss of more than $25 million. There have been tales and anecdotes of more organized thieves who actually follow trucks and pick up stuff from uncovered porches. The vast majority of parcel thefts, on the other hand, are conducted by persons who are simply walking down the street and finding an opportunity and taking advantage of it. Wakefield Research conducted a package theft research in 2018 with funding from Comcast, which owns CNBC. In urban areas, up to 35% of people claim to have had a package stolen from them. In a suburban area, that ratio is 20%, whereas in a rural setting, it is 13%.

Box theft victims stated they reported the seller or Amazon as soon as they realized their package had been stolen, with only 13% saying they called the police immediately after learning of the crime.

According to the survey, the cities with the highest rates of package theft include the Bay Area, Salt Lake City, and Portland. This is the busiest time of day, and it is usually between ten and three o’clock, when most people are at work, school, or out running errands in the area.

Attacks happen to the rick more so than to the poor!

Packages are delivered far more frequently in the more affluent portions of town than in the less affluent areas. I think it’s because they’re after the better booty.

So, what happens if a cargo goes missing or is stolen?

According to C+R Research, victims will notify multiple entities. Only 13% notified the police, but 83% contacted Amazon or the seller, 60% contacted the delivery provider, 48% checked with neighbors, and 48% contacted the delivery service.

Cybercriminals – does package theft fall into the same class as digital bank theft?

So, who is financially responsible for the loss?

Amazon and eBay, two of your biggest merchants, are replacing stolen merchandise. This cost is borne primarily by the shippers themselves. Some businesses, such as FedEx, are already providing $100 in default liability. You have the opportunity to purchase more items. The USPS does not provide liability insurance, but you can purchase supplementary coverage. However, the sellers are absorbing the entire $9 billion. Even if it appears like Amazon replaces your stolen item quickly, if the item was sold by a third party, the third party is liable for the replacement or reimbursement. You can also contact the carrier or shipper, however they will seek restitution from the seller once more.

However, your best bet is to return to the store where you purchased it and ask if they can send you another. The seller has the final word on whether or not your item will be replaced. At the end of the day, the consumer pays because, let’s face it, rates must rise. You can’t continue to lose money like way.

Despite the fact that many police departments do not officially track parcel theft, the data are rising. Package theft, for example, surged by 68 percent in Denver between 2015 and 2018. Small businesses and large retailers, such as Amazon, have a strong incentive to stop the thefts because they spend more money on refunds and replacements each year. Amazon Key, a free automatic front door lock system available in 50 locations with compatible smart lock kits, is one alternative provided by the e-commerce titan. Customers can remotely open the front door, allowing a delivery worker to enter the residence.

Put an end to the Opt Out campaign. The COVID-19 outbreak is changing the purchasing habits of many Americans, according to the Census Bureau’s quarterly E-Commerce figures, with online purchases in the United States increasing by more than 31 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. (fcc.gov)

Amazon Key may also be used to unlock compatible garages and autos, allowing packages to be placed in the trunk, for example.
Building management can also use Amazon.

Key for Business gives delivery drivers a smart key that permits them to leave merchandise inside an apartment complex for a limited time. However, according to C+R Research, Amazon Key is used by only 4% of stolen parcels.

Online sales and retailers are not the only victims in this type of fraud.

That figure could be low for a variety of reasons. Even though you can see it in real time, I believe the idea of unlocking your door for a stranger when you aren’t there and allowing them to enter your home is uncomfortable to some people.

Amazon lockers are also available – more secure but not immune to breaches.

Packages are stored in these automatic electronic lockers for pickup in over 900 cities around the United States in convenience stores, grocery stores, apartment buildings, malls, and other locations. Locker+ units, which can store things for up to 15 days and are common on college campuses, are manned.
Customers can also pick up their orders in-store at locations such as Rite Aid, GNC, Health Mart, and Stage Stores. We had 11% of respondents say they send their packages to an Amazon locker or similar service.

Then there are the 10 percent of respondents who said they use some kind of parcel lockbox. Individual lockboxes, like this one from Kingsley Park, are typically secured to a porch, where delivery drivers enter an access code to leave deliveries. Finally, 18% of individuals who responded to the study stated that they send their deliveries to their place of employment. Amazon boasts that the vast majority of packages arrive on time and that customer service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When a driver is nearby, Amazon Map racking allows customers can see the progress of their delivery in real time, which is quite helpful.

Furthermore, for Amazon-shipped purchases, it delivers a photo of the package upon delivery.
Of course, Amazon isn’t the only place where individuals may shop online. As a result, there are a number of smaller companies that offer computerized smart lockers. It’s really tough to put a canoe or a mattress into our lockers, yet we regularly store tires and carry huge goods through the lockers.

Parcel Pending has 4,000 lockers in retail and grocery stores, enterprises, and apartment structures in 48 states and Canada. We’ve been working with an e-tailer that ships over 300 million goods every year, and they’ve stated package losses in the tens of millions of dollars. Because package loss is not an insurable incident, putting up a solution like an electronic locker system is almost a drop in the bucket for them. As a result, it will be paid for with their own funds.

When lockers are not an option, customers often turn to more local alternatives. One-third of consumers will have a package delivered to or picked up by a friend, neighbor, or family member. There are some things that are more serious than others. We learned that one out of every five employees had taken a sick day or sought PTO or vacation time from their company in order to be home to pick up a cargo that they were scared would be stolen.
Even the carriers have found a solution: instead of waiting for your package to be delivered to your door, you can now pick it up at a storefront.

Online Shopping is getting wiser to e-commerce cybercrime, cybersecurity insurance is on the rise.

With the UPS Locations and the recently announced collaboration with CVS, Michaels, and Advance Auto to add a third one, recipients will be able to specify that they would prefer their products to be delivered in those locations rather than at their home. Furthermore, UPS claims that 63 million customers have signed up for its My Choice program, which distributes approximately 20 million goods every day.
Customers can schedule deliveries, reroute shipments, or assign their default package delivery location to one of the world’s 40,000 secure access points. Within the next year or so, 90 to 95 percent of UPS coverage in the US will be within five miles of a UPS distribution facility.

FedEx, which claims to deliver 15 million goods each day, has a program similar to this one called Delivery Manager.

Customers can provide explicit instructions for where and how they want a product delivered, as well as divert a box to one of 14,000 retail sites such as FedEx Office, Walgreens, Krogers, and Albertsons. We predict a daily growth of nearly 100 million parcels by 2026. As a result, we’ll need to put in place safeguards to guarantee that packages aren’t left on people’s front porches for hours, if not days, when they’re not home.
Furthermore, the USPS provides a service known as Informed Delivery, which the business claims has over 21 million clients.
It shows a preview of the day’s planned deliveries, as well as the option of having a parcel retained at a post office rather than left at the front door.


FedEx, UPS, USPS, and more companies provide package tracking.


Furthermore, while you can file a claim for missing shipments if they were insured through the carrier, the carrier is frequently no longer accountable once the box has been delivered. When a package is delivered, it is no longer in our ownership or control. As a result, in the event of a theft report, it is ultimately up to law authorities to work directly with consumers.


TrackerSense and Logistimatics are two third-party companies that specialize in one-time GPS tracking devices for shipments. Then there are the firms seeking to automate the entire tracking process. Route, a Los Angeles-based company, recently launched an app to give consumers with a one-stop tracking solution. As a result, when you open our app, everything you’ve ordered from every vendor will be displayed in a single map layout.

Route says that its algorithms can assess whether a parcel has been reported as stolen by error, hence contributing in the reduction of loss for its 1,800 merchant partner companies.
Furthermore, for a fee of one percent of the item’s value, Route will cover the charges if a product is removed from its delivery location. Once the carrier normally leaves the delivery on a doorstep, their responsibility to deliver the package is over, and in many cases, this is why they’re taking pictures now to prove, you know, that the package was genuinely delivered.


We’re pretty much the only ones on an island who cover porch pirating. Consumers are increasingly adopting doorbell cameras to protect their delivery once they are no longer in the hands of the carrier.
According to C+R Research, 25% of package theft victims install doorbell cameras like the ones manufactured by Boston-based SimpliSafe. It is ensuring that we have reliable, high-quality video footage that captures the person’s face so that if a package is taken, we can trace down the criminal. Doorbell cameras, on the other hand, do not only record those with bad intentions. Their American flag had fallen outside their front door, and the moment was captured on video when a passing neighbor noticed it, righted the flag, and saluted it before moving on.


If a crime is being committed, SimpliSafe now offers real-time monitoring of video footage when an alarm is triggered, as well as the ability to dispatch authorities to the scene. They will realize that this is not a hoax and that they are not wasting their time. This is a very effective use of their time because it allows police to catch a criminal in the act.
And there’s a lot of debate over it. Some people believe that it gives Big Brother a lot of power, and they are correct. However, I feel that when it comes to assisting us in recovering from a crime, we all want Big Brother on our side.


SimpliSafe now sells a smart lock for as little as $99. In addition to a video doorbell for $169, the company now sells a smart lock for as little as $99. The Competitor Ring is available for $99.99. Another option is the Google Nest Hello video doorbell, which starts at $229.
You have a photo of the bad man, but you also get to see him walk away with the box, which is a flaw in that strategy. But how do you intend to deal with the antagonist? Is anyone aware of who will go after him, and will anything happen? And do you intend to apprehend the person who took your item? No, in most circumstances.


Screenshots of package thieves taken by doorbell cameras are routinely published on forums like Nextdoor in the hope that the community will recognize and stop the thieves.

Neighbors are increasingly taking matters into their own hands, such as luring burglars with garbage-filled packages, boxes engineered to detonate with blank shotgun shots, and the legendary glitter bomb packages planted by a former NASA engineer.


We’d like to encourage individuals not to take the law into their own hands, but rather to follow the proper processes for alerting authorities and not to attempt to set up anything potentially dangerous. When a shipment is stolen, carriers and law enforcement recommend that a police complaint be filed. If you witness the same body type and disguise in the same place again and record the video and share it with local law enforcement, you have a far better chance of catching someone. Even with a police report, the prospects of their capture are slim.

It’s actually quite difficult to find people who are doing this unless you’re caught in the act. According to the Denver Police Department, one of the few that tracks package theft, 7% of package thieves were arrested in 2018. The US Postal Inspection Service is your best bet. They were, however, only able to catch less than 1% of the entire number of stolen shipments each year.


That only accounts for the arrests. It’s not about achieving a conviction or reclaiming all of the cash. According to the USPS, postal inspectors detained over 2,500 people in 2018 for mail and package theft.
The typical value of a stolen parcel is far less than what would be considered a felony. In California, for example, the item must be worth more than $950. A proposed Defense Against Porch Pirates Act in South Carolina, on the other hand, would make it a crime. In Texas, lawmakers recently passed legislation that would fine package thieves between $4,000 and $10,000 and sentence them to prison terms ranging from six months to ten years.

‘Porch-Theft’ is the name of a specially designed bait.

This bundle will film the theif with four separate cameras and will release a pound of the world’s finest glitter, along with a few other surprises.

Some police departments have even attempted to track down criminals by presenting them with presents and staking out their front doors.
The truth is that as Amazon’s client base expands online, there will be more opportunity for these basic scams. I believe it is our job to continue innovating because criminal activities will develop.
Amazon and other sellers are highly motivated to reduce the significant losses caused by package theft, which means that solutions like doorbell cameras, tracking, and secure delivery locations are constantly emerging. When we look back on how we handled e-commerce delivery in the past, I suppose it will appear quite primitive that these cardboard boxes are just sitting on porches.

Whether it’s the Amazon Key or lockboxes, technological innovation is blossoming right now, and when combined with the ability for individual entrepreneurs to profit from solving this problem, I believe it will be solved to some extent.
As indicated by our research, I honestly feel it is becoming more difficult for thieves to take something since more attention is being paid to it and consumer awareness is expanding. You, on the other hand, are starting from a low point.

This is a rather straightforward offense to commit.