FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Tis the season for holiday shopping and thieves on the lookout for packages on your doorstep. The Fairfax County Police Department has received about 15 reports of stolen packages from the doorsteps of apartments, townhouses and single family homes across the county, it said this weekend.

As online shoppers plow through their holiday gift lists, UPS, Federal Express and U.S. Postal Service trucks are driving through neighborhoods dropping off goodies. And in a move dubbed "front porch shopping," observant thieves will follow delivery trucks and steal recently delivered packages from porches and stoops.

The gift season looks bright for thieves, with sales in November and December expected to increase 3.6 percent to $655.8 billion overall, according to the National Retail Federation. Online sales should increase between 7 and 10 percent to about $117 billion.