Agencies offer tips to stay safe this season

Euclid police’s community policing specialist and crime analyst Kate McLaughlin said the city sees an uptick in theft reports at the end of the year.

There are more porch pirates — people who steal newly delivered packages left outside others’ homes — as well as thefts from vehicles and general thefts as the holidays approach, McLaughlin said.

Securing package delivery is an important crime prevention tool, she said.

Mentor police stated that porch piracy, like auto theft, is a crime of opportunity.

“Like auto theft, porch piracy is a crime of opportunity,” the department stated. “Thieves will often follow a delivery truck or simply cruise around an area looking for an attractive target. And, like retail theft, thieves are looking for high value items that they can flip quickly.”

Mentor police also stressed that taking precautionary measures is an important line of defense against package theft. The department offers several tips to help ward off porch pirates.

The department recommends tracking orders online and trying to be home when a delivery is anticipated.

“The longer a package sits on your front step, the more attention it will attract,” the department stated. “If you can’t be home, have someone you trust retrieve your package for you. If possible, request that your delivery be placed near a side or rear door that is out of sight or arrange to have your delivery sent to your workplace if permitted.”

The department also recommends investing in security cameras. Low-cost options can now send notifications to smartphones when motion is sensed and offer two-way communications options. People can also invest in a lockable delivery box or a smart garage door opener that allows homeowners to open and close their garage door from anywhere.

Mentor has a Security Camera Registration and Mapping (S.C.R.A.M.) program where city residents and business owners can sign up to join a secured GIS database that allows the police department to locate cameras on a map near a crime. The department stated that registration with the program does not grant access to a system, “it simply lets law enforcement know the location of these systems in Mentor.”

“Finally, be a good neighbor and keep an eye out for each other,” the department stated. “If you see a suspicious car, or a theft in progress, jot down the license plate and contact the police. A description of a suspect or their vehicle, a partial license plate, stolen property, and other factors can lead to arrest.”

Cold mornings can provide increased opportunities for car thieves to strike, the Euclid Police Department

stated. The department recently reported on an incident in the city where a resident left a running car unattended in the driveway for about 5 minutes and it was stolen.

The department stated that it understands that as the weather dips, people may want to warm up their vehicles, but they shouldn’t leave them unattended.

“When it’s time to go, lock up your home, sit inside your car while it’s warming up, and remain alert and aware of your surroundings — don’t be distracted by your cell phone,: the department stated. “Auto thieves like to steal unattended cars, but they also take advantage of the element of surprise to carjack a distracted person alone in a vehicle.”

Telephone scams are another concern around the holidays, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office stated.

“Our road patrol deputies have experienced an even larger increase in the amount of complaints than we have experienced in months past,” the Sheriff’s Office stated.

Recently, deputies have received complaints related to sweepstakes giveaways, fraudulent Amazon charges and Homeland Security scams.

“We’ve been fortunate that none of our complainants have provided any personal or banking information to the suspect(s) and we want to keep it that way,” the department stated.

The Sheriff’s Office said the best approach for protection is to “not even answer an unknown telephone call.”

“If the phone call is legit, they will leave an appropriate message and you can call them back after confirming their legitimacy,” the Sheriff’s Office stated. “Simply click the silence button twice to disengage the call.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office warns that robocallers pose as legitimate business such as Amazon, Apple or PayPal in an attempt to scam people out of money. According to the office, these scammers call out of the blue and suggest — under the guise of wanting to help remedy the situation — that a large purchase has been charged to your credit card.

“Legitimate companies don’t do business this way, so just hang up,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. “These impostors want to get you on the line and cause panic so you cough up personal information. My hope is that you will answer by ending the call.”

The Attorney General’s Office offers the following tips for dealing with these types of scams:

Hang up if you receive a cold call from someone claiming that you have purchased an item from Amazon or another popular online retailer. Do not call back the number on your caller ID or the phone number mentioned in the message. Instead, if you are concerned about the supposed purchase, contact the retailer using its legitimate phone number or email address. Customer service contact information can typically be found on the company’s website.

• Carefully examine the details of your online account purchases and credit card bills for any unauthorized charges. If you see an unauthorized charge, report it immediately to your credit card company.

• Never allow a stranger to remotely access your smartphone, tablet or computer. If the caller claims to need remote access to process a refund, it’s a scam.

• Be highly suspicious of requests from a stranger to buy gift cards as payment for any product or service as part of a “refund” process or to allegedly help stop fraud from a third party. Know that once you disclose a gift card’s PIN to someone, that person will be able to access the money on the card.

• To report a scam, contact the legitimate retailer through the contact information on its website and the Ohio Attorney General’s Help Center.

• If you’ve fallen victim to a business impostor scam by disclosing personal identifying information, download the Ohio Attorney General’s ID Theft Basics publication and visit www.identitytheft.gov for help on how to proceed.