VIDEO: San Francisco package thief impersonates UPS delivery man. @CamilaBernal reports. https://t.co/N4bl1iOgVw pic.twitter.com/nerWMMfr3g
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) September 26, 2017
It's a common scenario: A multi-unit building's doorbell sounds, the visitor identifies themselves as a delivery person, and a tenant buzzes them in. But a San Francisco package thief is allegedly taking advantage of that common urban practice, impersonating a UPS driver to gain access to area homes.
According to an Alamo Square area resident who spoke to KRON 4, that's what went down at her building at 9:40 last Wednesday night.
The suspect, the above image of which was captured by the building's surveillance camera, allegedly rang the buzzer claiming to be from UPS. One of the residents rang him in, and the packages that were sitting in the vestibule allegedly disappeared after he entered.
“We noticed that where there were many packages early that day,” resident Caelyn Casanova told KRON 4. “There were none later, and we knew that we had packages there, but they weren’t there.”
The building's manager tells KRON 4 that "they get about 10 to 20 packages a day" at the residence. Personally, as a cat and dog sitter who enters many multi-unit buildings on a daily basis, that number seems about right — and I've also noticed that many residents seem to leave their packages by the door for days at a time. (They can't all be out of town, right?) Perhaps one way to help curtail this kind of theft is to take your stuff up as soon as possible? Just an idea.
And, also, maybe think twice before just buzzing in someone just because they say they're with a delivery service. "Like, I can't pretend that I've never let someone in when they buzz and say they are from UPS," Casanova told KRON 4. But no more.
“It’s so infuriating because yeah, I guess you can do that, but Jesus, like taking advantage of people’s trust, and you know people are trying to get their packages and stuff,” Casanova says. “I do hope that people just become more aware that this is a growing problem."
Related: Canine/Human Team Of Alleged Package Thieves Roams Richmond District