Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel offered consumers advice on steps they could take to stop porch piracy during the holiday season, including playing music and leaving lights on.

Unattended deliveries, Ms. Nessel said in a release Wednesday, entice porch pirates.

Her recommended safety measures include shipping packages to more secure places like Amazon lockers, FedEx offices or one’s workplace, illuminating porches including the use of motion sensor lights, making it look like someone’s home by playing music and leaving lights on, and installing cameras and other measures that let allow monitoring of deliveries in real time.

“By planning ahead and taking security measures, you can make sure your well-deserved gifts and packages reach you safely while keeping thieves from stealing your holiday cheer,” she said.

Package theft affected one out of every 180 packages in 2023 for a total of 119 million thefts that cost consumers $13.4 billion, according to Capital One.

Some consumers have looked into ways to be compensated for their losses, such as shipping insurance. A recent survey of 2,050 people by consumer financial research group ValuePenguin found that 23% of respondents purchased shipping insurance for their packages.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.