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Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

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Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#281

Post by VectorLock »

dvtrn wrote: post #176
VectorLock wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be funny if this spawned a bunch of copy cats which then drives down the incidents of package theft because thiefs are paranoid of getting prank packages. I bet somebody will soon start selling this as a product. And people will just send them to their friends instead of targeting package thiefs. "Pranked you bro!" Then there will be a bunch of backlash.

>And people will just send them to their friends instead of targeting package thiefs. "Pranked you bro!" No need to wait for that, it's already a thing: https://www.ruindays.com/ Some have sent far...erm...shittier things in the mail: http://time.com/3634443/cards-against-humanity-poop-black-fr...

No camera or motorized glitter-whipper on this though. Being able to see your victim's face and reaction is what really makes it.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#282

Post by logfromblammo »

learc83 wrote: post #241
logfromblammo wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My time with police has taught me that they will make you do your own documentation by filling out the crime reports yourself, and then just rubber-stamp them for the benefit of your insurance company. Vigilante justice is the only kind there is for misdemeanor property crimes. You could track the thief down, talk him into giving your property back and turning himself in, and drive him to the police station yourself,…

I sat on a jury for a misdemeanor shoplifting trial. We voted to convict and he got jail time, and when I worked retail during college, misdemeanor shoplifters were almost always arrested and prosecuted when there was good evidence. I also know people working in the my county solicitor's office and a large amount of their caseload is prosecuting misdemeanor property crimes. I'm sure this varies by location, but I don…

The cops may care when someone steals from a retail business. They don't care when the same person steals from you, an individual.

The reason why I know this should be self-evident.

I might also mention that if you know someone in the prosecutors' office, your experience will be very different from the majority of theft victims. Cases that never get referred to the prosecutor due to lack of evidence, due to lack of looking for evidence--or lack of taking the evidence when handed in on a silver platter--are not included in the prosecutors' caseloads.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#283

Post by ryanmercer »

cosmotron wrote: post #73

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…

>What are people's thoughts on if this is staged?

Well one, he's not a prank channel. He's a serious professional that even showed video of people stealing his package that started the whole idea. He then went as far as to machine parts, have a custom pcb manufactured etc. Then he contaminated cars and residences with glitter, yeah good luck talking random friends to let you bomb their cars and houses with glitter.

I mean, the dude worked for JPL for almost a decade and has his work on Mars, he already gets tons of views and has a history of deep-diving projects. He's also a tv host. He's also a former TED speaker.

Guy has better things to do than stage videos for YouTube.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#284

Post by paavoova »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #190
cosmotron wrote: post #73

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…

If this was staged, this guy is a fantastic actor. The shot of him “being out of his comfort zone” when retrieving the box, in particular, would have my sincere respect if it were not genuine. That is professional grade acting. Something you generally don’t find in YouTube click bait fakes.

That's exactly what made me think it's staged. Despite stating contrary, he seemed incredibly eager to drive to an unknown location, and hop out of his car without scouting the direct vicinity. How could he have known the thief wasn't still hanging around? Someone willing to steal might also be willing to mug and/or physically retaliate against the person who just glitter bombed them coming to pick up their package.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#285

Post by jboy55 »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #230
98codes wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of police response is par for the course in a number of cities these days.

Which makes no sense. You pretty much have a criminal case ready, there's video evidence. They will likely plead guilty without going to trial.

What's the crime? Stealing something that is less than $1000? They could have stolen that from the front of a store and if they weren't detained by a store cop, the police won't do anything typically.

If they plead guilty, they probably would just get a small fine, not worth the time of a detective to make the case.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#286

Post by mmcwilliams »

rdtsc wrote: post #173

This needs careful consideration if you ever decide to do it. Depending on the local criminal culture they could exact revenge. Then also know where you live and can do a lot worse things than taking a package. Police might later be involved but it might not be worth it. You are dealing with people who have no qualms stealing so it's not too crazy to expect other rash and illegal acts from them. I can also see some i…

Another thing that's risky about this approach is, depending on your jurisdiction, recording an individual (audio or video in some cases) without their consent is a felony.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#287

Post by ryanmercer »

kaivi wrote: post #101
cosmotron wrote: post #73

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…

> zero attempt at disassembly

Uh one guy very much starts manipulating the dispenser and trying to take it apart.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#288

Post by ineedasername »

vorpalhex wrote: post #140
MagicPropmaker wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California, thefts of under $950 are not felony crimes. And there's no more "three strikes". So you can steal packages for a living and, at worst, have to spend a week or two in jail over the course of a year. Not a bad living.

If I paid you $200, would you spend two weeks in jail? If getting that $200 meant risk to you (someone confronting you, someone else taking your money, risk of an officer giving you a beat down), would you still take it? It doesn't take a lot of risk to offset the "value" of stealing $950 labeled-worth goods (which will net you <$250 in cash).

It doesn't take a lot of risk to offset the "value" of stealing $950 labeled-worth goods (which will net you

If you're trying to say the risk isn't worth it, sure, you're right. And the average person wouldn't do it. But plenty of criminals don't live their lives by such risk/reward calculations. Roughly 5% [0] of people in prison in the US have decided to disregard the risk/reward ratio and go ahead with relatively small scale thefts.

[0] https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offen...

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#289

Post by ryanmercer »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #215
AstralStorm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What hardware hacker doesn't? I have at least 2 Android phones and one Windows phone lying around my house in various states of functionality. Hell, I've got $200 Peltier coolers and $400 peristaltic pumps in boxes somewhere sitting unused. I don't even know what this Mark person did, but going by comments here, if I wanted to build something similar, the only thing I'd have to go out and buy would be the glitter stu…

>I don't even know what this Mark person did, but going by comments here,

Oh man, watch the video on his YouTube. It's pure comedic gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#290

Post by robocat »

kitd wrote: post #226
rdtsc wrote: post #173

This needs careful consideration if you ever decide to do it. Depending on the local criminal culture they could exact revenge. Then also know where you live and can do a lot worse things than taking a package. Police might later be involved but it might not be worth it. You are dealing with people who have no qualms stealing so it's not too crazy to expect other rash and illegal acts from them. I can also see some i…

On the one hand, I suspect this type of crime is more the realm of opportunists rather than hard-core criminals who would exact revenge. On the other, glitter is actually quite polluting, so my preference would be some means of spraying the thief with brightly coloured dye.

> brightly coloured dye

So that the unwitting landlord can be penalised as well?

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