New York Woman Has Best Way to Get Instant Karma on Porch Pirates This Holiday

Tis the season for porch pirates. With more people ordering packages online for Christmas, more thieves are coming out of the woodwork to steal your stuff. Here's a brilliant way one woman in New York got even with a Grinch looking to grab her gifts during the holiday season.

Research shows 36% of Americans have had a package stolen from outside their home at least once and with the U.S. Postal Service shipping more than 800 million parcels, that's a lot of stuff to steal. Here's how to treat yourself with the gift of instant karma.

Just follow the lead of one woman in New York. She bought a new 50 inch TV for her husband when the old one broke. Instead of trying to find a way to get rid of it herself, she let someone else do it for her.

The old broken tv was put back in the new box and was placed on the porch. Someone eventually came and took it away. The woman even caught his escape on her security camera and The Shirley Drive-In shared it on Facebook where it's gone viral.

"I just wish I could see his face when he finds out it's no good. He saved us a trip to the dump and got his just karma."

We wish we could have seen it too.

Want to get rid of something? Put it by the curb but don't say it's free.

Robert Scribner says his New York neighbor put a ping pong table at the end of his driveway with a “FREE” sign on it. It sat there for several days until the sign changed from free to $200. "Within minutes it was gone."

Charles Hughes had the same thing happen to an old lawn mower he was looking to get rid of. I placed it on the curb with a free sign. It set there for weeks. I put a sign on it FOR SALE 50 DOLLARS. Someone stole it the next night."

Better Business Bureau offers more practical tips to avoid being the victim of porch pirates this holiday season.

• Pick up packages as soon as they are delivered. Don’t leave delivered packages unattended for long periods of time.
• Use online tracking. You can track most packages. If you're told it's been delivered but it's not there, report it.
• Monitor the front door. Use your security camera to capture activity at your front door and mailbox.
• Customize deliveries. Ask deliveries be left in a specified out-of-sight location or placed in a secure lockbox on your porch.
• Sign for packages. Set up signature-only deliveries. That way the packages get into the right hands.
• Deliver to work. Have any packages delivered to your workplace if it's allowed.

If a porch pirate hornswoggled your booty, report it to BBB Scam Tracker to help warn others.