Canada Holiday Crime Statistics: Porch Pirates, Pickpocketing, and More

The hol­i­day sea­son is a blur of shop­ping trips, pack­age deliv­er­ies, crowd­ed malls, and fam­i­ly gath­er­ings. It is a time of ener­gy and cel­e­bra­tion, but it is also a peri­od when cer­tain crimes rise. Thieves know that res­i­dents are dis­tract­ed, deliv­er­ies pile up on doorsteps, and cars are loaded with gifts. In Cana­da, three types of theft stand out this sea­son: pack­age theft, shoplift­ing and per­son­al theft in pub­lic places, and auto break-ins or vehi­cle theft.

At Pro­tec­tion Plus, we’ve gath­ered Cana­da hol­i­day crime sta­tis­tics that reveal how these trends com­pare to broad­er Cana­di­an pat­terns, and what prac­ti­cal take­aways can help peo­ple stay ahead of risks.

1. ‘Porch Piracy’ increases around the holidays

Pack­age theft, also known as “porch pira­cy,” increas­es every hol­i­day sea­son in Cana­da, accord­ing to CTV News.

This com­pounds a year-round prob­lem, as 23% of Cana­di­ans, or 6.9 mil­lion peo­ple across the nation, say they’ve had a pack­age stolen from their porch.

The aver­age val­ue of a stolen pack­age was $113, but in about 10% of cas­es the thieves took a pack­age worth more than $250. This equals about $784 mil­lion worth of stolen pack­ages.

While there is good news from FedEx Express Cana­da, which reports pack­age theft fell from 16% in 2023 to 10% in 2024, that means one in 10 pack­ages may still dis­ap­pear from porch­es before their right­ful own­ers claim them—a par­tic­u­lar­ly seri­ous prob­lem around the hol­i­days when rates increase. These pack­ages are Christ­mas presents that fam­i­lies have saved for or one-of-a-kind items.

Ris­ing online shop­ping, dense res­i­den­tial liv­ing, and pre­dictable deliv­ery pat­terns give thieves easy access to unat­tend­ed parcels.

With two-thirds of Cana­di­ans plan­ning to spend the same or more this sea­son com­pared to 2024, accord­ing to a nation­al sur­vey by FedEx Cana­da, there will be high­er pack­age vol­umes at doors and build­ing lob­bies.

The sur­vey also notes that cus­tomers con­tin­ue to pre­fer home deliv­ery over pick­up loca­tions, even when warned about theft risk. Home deliv­ery remains con­ve­nient, but it also means more parcels are sit­ting in acces­si­ble areas for longer peri­ods.

Although porch pira­cy rarely involves direct con­fronta­tion, the finan­cial impact is real for res­i­dents, retail­ers, and car­ri­ers. Replace­ment process­es slow down dur­ing Decem­ber, and many con­sumers sim­ply absorb the loss.

How to prevent package theft

At Pro­tec­tion Plus, we rec­om­mend five ways to pre­vent pack­age theft from your doorstep:

1. Sched­ule deliv­ery when you’re home. If you have con­trol over when your pack­age arrives, choose a time dur­ing the evening or on the week­end, or when­ev­er you know you’ll be home to accept it.
2. Tell deliv­ery dri­vers to leave pack­ages in dis­creet loca­tions. By a back door, in a car­port, or behind a bench are all bet­ter loca­tions than sit­ting out in the open on your front porch, where it may be spot­ted by pack­age thieves cruis­ing the neigh­bour­hood.
3. Install secu­ri­ty cam­eras and video door­bells. Vis­i­ble cam­eras are an excel­lent deter­rent for “porch pirates” look­ing for oppor­tu­ni­ties to com­mit low-effort crimes.
4. Imple­ment a home secu­ri­ty sys­tem with yard signs and win­dow decals. This is anoth­er pow­er­ful deter­rent, as pack­age thieves who see that you have a home secu­ri­ty sys­tem will think twice before step­ping onto your prop­er­ty.
5. Resched­ule or redi­rect pack­ages if you’ll be away. A pack­age sit­ting on your doorstep for days is an easy tar­get for an oppor­tunis­tic thief. It can also tip them off that you’re out of town, which is nev­er some­thing you want a thief to know.

Additional tips:

• Use deliv­ery lock­ers or pick­up points when pos­si­ble.
• Track pack­ages and plan to be home or have a neigh­bour receive them.
• Request sig­na­ture-required deliv­ery for high-val­ue pur­chas­es.
• In high-rise build­ings, encour­age man­age­ment to install secure par­cel rooms.

2. Shoplifting and personal theft surge with crowds

Hol­i­day crowds are an ide­al envi­ron­ment for pick­pock­ets, bag thieves, and oppor­tunis­tic shoplifters. While sta­tis­tics for the entire 2025 hol­i­day peri­od are still being final­ized, pick­pock­et­ing is on the rise, and nation­al trends from Sta­tis­tics Cana­da point clear­ly to sus­tained growth in theft-relat­ed inci­dents.

Accord­ing to the lat­est report from Stat­Can, shoplift­ing has increased in the past four years in a row:

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There were 182,361 police-report­ed shoplift­ing inci­dents of $5,000 or less in 2024, for a rate of 442 inci­dents per 100,000 pop­u­la­tion. While oth­er thefts of $5,000 or under declined 9% in 2024, shoplift­ing increased 14% from 2023.

This fol­lows a decade-long trend in which shoplift­ing in Cana­da increased by 66% from 2014 to 2024. Mean­while, oth­er thefts of $5,000 or under have declined 59% since their 1998 peak.

Numer­ous fac­tors can moti­vate shoplift­ing, pick­pock­et­ing, and sim­i­lar crimes:

• Eco­nom­ic pres­sure. Infla­tion and cost-of-liv­ing con­cerns per­sist in many regions. Retail theft increas­es dur­ing peri­ods of finan­cial strain, and hol­i­days inten­si­fy temp­ta­tion and oppor­tu­ni­ty.
• Crowd­ed stores and dis­tract­ed shop­pers. Busy malls give thieves cov­er. Peo­ple jug­gle bags, phones, coats, kids, and pay­ment cards. A few sec­onds of dis­trac­tion can be enough for a wal­let or shop­ping bag to dis­ap­pear.
• Self-check­out vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. Many retail­ers rely on self-check­out ter­mi­nals, which unin­ten­tion­al­ly make non-pay­ment eas­i­er. Some theft is inten­tion­al, but acci­den­tal non-scans also con­tribute to report­ed loss­es.
• Orga­nized theft groups. Retail asso­ci­a­tions con­tin­ue to warn that orga­nized groups tar­get pop­u­lar malls and big-box stores dur­ing Decem­ber. Their activ­i­ty leads to spikes in both inci­dent counts and dol­lar-val­ue loss­es.

Toron­to shop­ping dis­tricts typ­i­cal­ly see high­er police pres­ence dur­ing the sea­son. Still, res­i­dents and vis­i­tors often under­es­ti­mate how quick­ly pick­pock­et­ing can occur in cramped or chaot­ic sur­round­ings.

How shop owners can protect inventory from shoplifters

Here’s how to secure valu­ables at your retail shop:

1. Install busi­ness secu­ri­ty cam­eras. Vis­i­ble com­mer­cial secu­ri­ty cam­eras often make crim­i­nals recon­sid­er theft, as they’re usu­al­ly look­ing to com­mit low-risk crimes.
2. Lim­it access to your most valu­able items. Keep valu­able goods in a locked dis­play case, and con­sid­er installing win­dow film on cas­es and front dis­play win­dows to pre­vent the glass from being smashed.
3. Watch for blind spots. If there’s any cor­ner of your retail floor that is not vis­i­ble to store employ­ees, that’s a vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty. Lim­it shelf and divider heights so all cus­tomers are vis­i­ble, and install secu­ri­ty cam­eras if there are any blind spots that can­not be elim­i­nat­ed.
4. Move check­out to the entrance. Keep the most pop­u­lar items at the back of the store and place the check­out counter near the entrance, so all cus­tomers must pass by your employ­ees on their way out.
5. Secure deliv­ery areas and stock rooms. Secu­ri­ty cam­eras, along with access con­trol and inter­com sys­tems, increase vis­i­bil­i­ty and your con­trol over these areas.

Additional tip:

• Install a com­mer­cial alarm sys­tem to help keep your busi­ness secure after hours. An unpro­tect­ed store is an open invi­ta­tion for crim­i­nals.

How to deter pickpockets

Here are some ways hol­i­day shop­pers can keep their wal­lets, phones, and oth­er valu­ables safe from pick­pock­ets:

1. Keep phones and wal­lets in front pock­ets or secure inte­ri­or com­part­ments. Try not to keep items that can be eas­i­ly stolen in back pock­ets or in open bags.
2. Watch where you put your bags. Avoid plac­ing bags on the floor or hang­ing them on the back of chairs in food courts. Be wary of leav­ing your wal­let and cell­phone on the table. 
3. Stay aware when using self-check­out. Espe­cial­ly when jug­gling mul­ti­ple items, this can be a prime oppor­tu­ni­ty for a pick­pock­et.
4. Make sure you know who is hold­ing which items. If shop­ping with chil­dren, use a con­sis­tent sys­tem for car­ry­ing belong­ings.
5. Report sus­pi­cious behav­iour ear­ly. Thieves often test store lay­outs before strik­ing.

3. Auto break-ins and vehicle theft remain a primary concern

While Toron­to crime sta­tis­tics show a 33.8% decline in auto thefts in the city in 2025, this comes after explo­sive growth over the past five years. It’s essen­tial to stay vig­i­lant about auto theft and vehi­cle break-ins.

The lat­est nation­al Auto Theft Trend Report shows that while auto thefts have declined across Cana­da, theft lev­els remained sig­nif­i­cant­ly ele­vat­ed in the first half of 2025 com­pared to 2021 and pre-pan­dem­ic base­lines.

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The report out­lines sev­er­al fac­tors behind the surge:

• High export demand. Stolen vehi­cles from feed inter­na­tion­al mar­kets where spe­cif­ic mod­els can be resold quick­ly.
• Key­less entry vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties. Many mod­ern vehi­cles use wire­less fobs. Crim­i­nals use relay attacks to cap­ture and ampli­fy sig­nals, unlock­ing and start­ing cars in sec­onds. This method requires no bro­ken glass and leaves few traces.
• Hol­i­day-spe­cif­ic risks. Cars loaded with shop­ping bags or elec­tron­ics become tar­gets for smash-and-grab break-ins. Park­ing lots near malls, are­nas, and tran­sit hubs see high­er inci­dent vol­umes in Decem­ber.
• Rapid theft tech­niques. Pro­fes­sion­al thieves can steal a vehi­cle in under a minute using tools that dis­able alarms or repro­gram onboard com­put­ers. Win­ter dark­ness also gives them cov­er for night­time thefts.

Com­bined, these fac­tors make pre­ven­tion crit­i­cal. Res­i­dents should assume thieves are look­ing for easy wins and take steps to ensure their vehi­cles do not become one of them.

How drivers can protect themselves from auto theft and break-ins

1. Nev­er leave bags or box­es vis­i­ble inside the vehi­cle. Even an emp­ty bag can sug­gest valu­ables.
2. Use steer­ing wheel locks. Vis­i­ble deter­rents reduce risk and slow thieves.
3. Park in well-lit areas and avoid leav­ing cars overnight in iso­lat­ed lots. Thieves are deterred by light and wit­ness­es.
4. Store key fobs away from doors and win­dows. Use sig­nal-block­ing pouch­es at home.
5. Con­sid­er installing an after­mar­ket immo­bi­liz­er or track­ing device. This can help retrieve your vehi­cle if it’s stolen.
6. Keep vehi­cle iden­ti­fi­ca­tion num­bers and doc­u­ments stored safe­ly. Nev­er store them in the glove box.

Canada Holiday Crime Statistics — Staying Safe Without Losing the Holiday Spirit

Aware­ness goes a long way in pre­vent­ing crime. Most thefts that spike in Decem­ber are oppor­tunis­tic. Thieves watch for dis­trac­tion, con­ve­nience, and pre­dictable pat­terns. The more res­i­dents stay alert and build sim­ple pre­cau­tions into their rou­tines, the few­er oppor­tu­ni­ties crim­i­nals find.

Here are a few com­bined tips that apply across all three cat­e­gories:

• Plan. Whether pick­ing up pack­ages, shop­ping in busy areas, or park­ing for an event, know what to expect and pre­pare for delays or crowds.
• Secure your belong­ings. Keep items close, out of sight, or locked. Quick deci­sions pre­vent long headaches.
• Trust your instincts. If an area feels unsafe or some­one appears sus­pi­cious, move away or noti­fy secu­ri­ty.
• Share infor­ma­tion. Neigh­bours who com­mu­ni­cate about pack­age deliv­ery win­dows or sus­pi­cious activ­i­ty help pro­tect entire streets or build­ings.
• Use tech­nol­o­gy wise­ly. Cam­eras, alerts, and track­ing tools help, but they should com­ple­ment good habits rather than replace them.

Hol­i­days should not feel stress­ful or unsafe. With a few adjust­ments, res­i­dents and vis­i­tors can shop, cel­e­brate, and trav­el with greater peace of mind. Stay­ing alert pro­tects not only your belong­ings but also the rhythm of the sea­son itself.

How Protection Plus Can Help

With hol­i­day crime ris­ing each year — from porch pira­cy to shoplift­ing and vehi­cle break-ins — tak­ing proac­tive steps to pro­tect your home or busi­ness is more impor­tant than ever. Mod­ern home secu­ri­ty and busi­ness secu­ri­ty solu­tions can deter theft, reduce risk, and give you peace of mind dur­ing the busiest time of the year.

Pro­tec­tion Plus has been secur­ing Toron­to homes and busi­ness­es for more than 30 years. Our team designs cus­tom pro­tec­tion sys­tems tai­lored to your prop­er­ty, includ­ing alarms, secu­ri­ty cam­eras, smart locks, and access con­trol sys­tems.

Con­tact us today for a free con­sul­ta­tion and dis­cov­er how we can help safe­guard your fam­i­ly, your busi­ness, and your hol­i­day deliv­er­ies.