DENVER (KDVR) -- As holiday packages arrive on doorsteps across Colorado, so are the porch pirates looking to intercept them.
In fact, according to a report by Lombardo Homes, Colorado ranks 10th in the nation for highest package theft rates.
One Denver couple is trying to combat the rise in package theft in their own way -- by leaving fake packages out for thieves to take. Sarai Vazquez and Martin Jurado have lived off North Federal Boulevard for about three years and said they have had more than 40 packages taken since they have lived there.
"It was like within a matter of minutes that we would get our things taken," Vazquez said. "We would get a picture of the package being in the front door. We’d come to the front door and it was gone."
They tried almost everything to prevent package theft, but it seemed nothing was really working.
"We even decided to sometimes do the lockers so we could just go pick it up because especially when it’s high ticket items or stuff like that," Jurado said.
"It’s a hassle," Vazquez added.
Jurado said he came up with an idea one day when he repeatedly kept missing trash day.
"I would come out early or just something would happen, so our trash was piling up," Jurado said. "And I’m like, 'Well I got a good idea. Why don’t we just put them in the Amazon packages and then we’ll have people steal it? Because they’re going to steal it. You know they’re going to steal it, and they’ll just take our trash for us.'"
The first day they tried it out. They had a large USPS package they had been using for a trash can anyway. Jurado taped it up and left it outside on his front porch.
"We put it out like during the night and then in the morning it was gone," Jurado said.
Since then, it has become a tradition and they said they have had dozens of fake packages stolen.
"He’s like, ‘We don’t even have to pay for trash service anymore at this rate,'" Vazquez said.
Then, they noticed the rate of package theft was starting to slow down.
"We’re like, 'Dang this package has been here a few days, what’s going on?'" Vazquez said. "It was like three months ago that they just stopped."
But, on Tuesday, FOX31 went over to their house to watch them put a package together and they set it on the front porch, forgetting about it. Later that night, they got a video of someone coming up and taking it.
The couple said whether it actually causes package thefts to stop or not, they said at least they are having some fun with it and are getting rid of some trash.
FOX31 reached out to Denver police and while the agency did not comment on this particular method, they said the best way to protect against porch pirates is to have your packages delivered to a secure location, choose to sign for your packages or have a shipping company hold your package for customer pick-up.