Thieves reportedly targeting trains, delivery trucks in new front for package-robbing

Criminals have reportedly opened up a new lucrative front in the ongoing package-theft epidemic throughout the U.S., targeting shipping infrastructure to steal goods before they even get to consumers' porches.

UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome told CNBC this week that one of the company's 18-wheeler shipping trucks was robbed several weeks ago in December. "[The driver] was stopped at gunpoint," she said. "He was zip-tied, thrown into the back of his feeder car, and they took the packages."

Images out of California, meanwhile, have rocketed around social media this week showing hundreds and hundreds of discarded and broken-open packages by train tracks in downtown Los Angeles. 

Thieves have reportedly been jumping trains there and making off with heavy amounts of merchandise, much of it from retailers like Amazon and REI. 

The escalation comes amid rising reports of "porch pirates" robbing delivered packages off of homeowners' porches, often in broad daylight.