By GAIL LOWE

WAKEFIELD — Wakefield police are urging residents to take special care this holiday season when packages ordered online or over the phone are delivered by services like UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.

On Friday, a Salem Street woman called police in the afternoon when she thought a package she was expecting to be delivered was stolen. It was fortunate for her that the package was later located at a neighbor’s home.

“Checking for a package you’re expecting to be delivered should be the first thing you do when you get home,” said Police Lt. Craig Calabrese.

“Sometimes a package might be small and overlooked,” he said. “We’re recommending that people check the appointed drop-off area for deliveries and to keep an eye on their neighborhoods, in general, especially after dark.”

Residents should also be on the lookout for “delivery truck” drivers that do not bear the name of a company, since they may be thieves.

UPS Public Relations Director Susan Rosenberg said the holiday season is the time for people to “think outside the box.”

The theft of packages delivered by UPS is not a “pervasive” issue, she said, but acknowledged that it does happen.

“We deliver 17 million packages every day outside the holiday season,” she said. “Stolen packages are very much the exception. We train our drivers to be aware of their surroundings and to report anything out of the ordinary to their managers.”

Still, people apparently have witnessed drivers following UPS delivery people and stealing packages from front porches, sometimes as soon as they are left at the door.

Rosenberg said that UPS customers can register on their site for free at UPS.com to receive alerts about packages that are expected to be delivered. Users can then track delivery status by receiving either an e-mail or text from the company.

“Customers will have a general window of delivery time using this service,” Rosenberg said. “The world is a different place today. Many people are out working and not at home to sign for a package.”

She also suggested that online and phone shoppers consider having their packages delivered to their places of work.

Another UPS service is for customers to use the “mailbox service” through the company.

“There are locations in or near Wakefield,” Rosenberg said. “These are individually owned franchises and the fees vary. Some are open 24 hours a day; others are open throughout the weekend, depending on location.”

According to the UPS website, the company expects its 2014 peak delivery day to be Monday, Dec. 22, when more than 34 million packages will be delivered worldwide. Six days are likely to surpass last year’s single-day delivery record of 31 million packages.

The U.S. Postal Service is also cautioning consumers to be aware of “fake package delivery e-mails,” claiming there is an issue with your latest purchase, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Attachments and links are associated with these “phishing scams” and likely contain a virus and are designed to steal shoppers’ personal and financial information.