This is a warning…

As everyone is aware, every holiday season there are folks who take advantage of those who order a lot from online. Especially around the holidays when those who don’t order a lot suddenly do.

Anybut, thieves love this time of year. Most people still have to work and don’t get home until evening. So packages tend to sit on doorsteps all day. Thieves drive up and down neighborhood streets to find these packages. They run up tot he door, nab the packages and drive off.

Well…that’s not the ONLY crime happening now.

Most people who are expecting packages to be delivered tend to have their guards down when someone knocks on the door. They think, “Oh! That’s probably that package I’ve been waiting for!”

BUT HERE IS A WARNING!! And I’ll tell you based on something that happened to me this past Tuesday:

I was on my computer upstairs. Just messing around. Somebody pounds, not knocks, POUNDS on the front door.

I initially think…do I have a package scheduled to arrive today?

The person pounds again. I go downstairs and, because I was alone, peeked through the peep hole.

I see a guy. No package in hand. He’s wearing a hoodie with the hood up. He’s kind of hanging out as though trying to avoid the sightline of the peephole and kept his face turned away from the door.

IMMEDIATE RED FLAGS!!

I stand there, staring out the peephole, not saying anything and watch him…ready to run upstairs to get my phone if needed.

He shifts his weight a bit and then storms off. I wait a few minutes to make sure he’s gone. Then I go back upstairs and keep my phone close. Some time later I go downstairs and turn on a lot of lights and even the TV to give the impression there’s more than one person in the house.

Today, the Thursday after this happened. A neighbor asked if we saw the criminal (thier words, not mine) walking around the neighborhood. Apparently this person (who I guess was also wearing a mask? I couldn’t see his face so I can’t confirm this) was going to every house and knocking on the door.

This person wasn’t out trying to steal packages. Package thieves DO NOT KNOCK! This person was looking for something else. It could’ve been someone easy to overpower and rob from, it could’ve been someone scoping out houses to see which ones were empty, or it could’ve even been somebody looking to nab someone.

I’ll never know. But I do know that I’ve learned a lot living alone. And when you feel like something is weird or giving you red flags…you listen to that feeling. If you’re wrong, no harm no foul.

So please, please, PLEASE!!! Be careful this holiday season. There are some real bad people wandering around.