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Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

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151–160 of 940 posts

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#151

i dunno, 4 free iphones is probably worth dealing with glitter and fart spray for a few minutes?

I don't think money was the concern here. The guy seems pretty well off.

Left his job at NASA to start a company, sell it, and work on viral content for many companies. He's pretty much rich at this point.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#152

Anyone else found it unsatisfactory that there was nothing about forwarding the footage of the thieves to the police?

Yeah. “Hello officer, I made a booby trapped package and I...” gets tased “argh no you don’t under- “ is handed off to the secret service I doubt the cops would look kindly on what is at best (funny) vigilante justice, at worse a violation of some federal law.

The package was on his porch, not in his mailbox, and it has a fake UPS label. Nothing federal about it--definitely nothing involving the secret service. The only way he might get charged with something is if the glitter bomb manages to injure someone (and even then it wouldn't be a federal crime).

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#153
post #122
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fart spray and glitter are temporary and relatively harmless. Permanent dye in someone's home are car is just being a jerk.

We sure wouldn't want to upset people stealing our belongings.

I won't deny the criminality. I'm still not going to cause them thousands of dollars in damage over it.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#154
post #24
post #9

Do you think the bomb maker could be held liable if the package were to be opened in a moving car that subsequently crashed because of glitter getting in the driver's eyes? I'd be a little nervous about doing this myself.

Just label the box with "DO NOT TAKE IN A CAR"

Right, thief should have read the EULA

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#155
post #61

In the Netherlands, when I order a package and no one's at home when it's delivered, it either gets delivered to my neighbors or to the post office, with a note of where to pick it up. It's never left at my door AFAIK. How is this not an option in the US?

That type of delivery is an option for more expensive goods. You can also sometimes pay more to require a signature for delivery.

Overall the rate of package theft is low though, so people prefer the convenience and low cost of normal package delivery.

The US is big and diverse. Most areas have little to no package theft. However, if your home has a very exposed front porch and you live in an affluent area very near a not so affluent area, theft can be more of an issue.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#156
post #136
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had the same thought when I first saw it. Some suspicious things: thieves talking to themselves, that lady throwing the box into her own garbage bin, zero attempt at disassembly or closer inspection of the box, no police involved. Also GPS is just not that good for locating anything of that size in given circumstances, and it would not have worked in the parking garage. Too many things could have gone wrong here…

>Too many things could have gone wrong here, but they did not. The design is subpar in my opinion, for somebody who worked on a Mars rover. Custom printed board plus a bunch of smartphones, seriously? What would you propose? The best design is often the easiest/cheapest one, and this looks like pretty simple.

Those are very much not cheapest unless he had them lying around.

There are ready made cheap boards with identical functionality to a cellphone, few dollars a pop. And yes, they run Android.

That said, this way he can claim it had something valuable inside in case it is still taken.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#157

What are people's thoughts on if this is staged? Considering the views / subscriptions are the main motivation here, it might justify the expenses poured into this project – that is, it would be quite a waste if all that effort went into the build just to have no one actually take it off the porch. If actors were used, it would explain the lack of police involvement (it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ). A…

I seriously doubt that andy sane person would glitter and stink bomb their own car.

The stink thing could be fake (we can't tell from the video only) and the glitter on a car, well, maybe there are desperate people out there that will gladly take US X,000 for the trouble.

I don't think the video is fake, though.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#158
post #101

What are people's thoughts on if this is staged? Considering the views / subscriptions are the main motivation here, it might justify the expenses poured into this project – that is, it would be quite a waste if all that effort went into the build just to have no one actually take it off the porch. If actors were used, it would explain the lack of police involvement (it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ). A…

I've had the same thought when I first saw it. Some suspicious things: thieves talking to themselves, that lady throwing the box into her own garbage bin, zero attempt at disassembly or closer inspection of the box, no police involved. Also GPS is just not that good for locating anything of that size in given circumstances, and it would not have worked in the parking garage. Too many things could have gone wrong here…

Let's be clear, it's most definitely not GPS. Most phones these days use Wi-Fi location tracking for the fine-precision it offers.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#159
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the police's complete inaction vigilantism was inevitable. I wonder if an industry of decoy packages will spring up, maybe "sticky" or "smelly" glitter. Or heck just go full ink bomb. I wonder where the law stands on this? Can you really be liable if someone steals your property then causes property damage using it?

> Given the police's complete inaction vigilantism was inevitable. This makes me wonder: who is responsible for the lost package? I would expect, if the deliverer can't prove they delivered the package (because they didn't get a signature), they're responsible for the loss and need to pay for the loss. The recipient certainly can't help that someone left a package outside. If the loss is for the recipient, then I can…

The delivery company sometimes takes pictures of the package left at the door. The customer is ultimately responsible for the package, not the shipper. It's the customer who files the police report.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#160

i dunno, 4 free iphones is probably worth dealing with glitter and fart spray for a few minutes?

Watch the video. The phones are hidden, and the fart spray is designed to make the thief get rid of the package as quickly as possible rather than taking it apart to see what might be inside.

Even so, wouldn't it be better to use 4 cheap cameras instead of 4 expensive smartphones?
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