Live data from Hacker News

Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

bbc.com

291–300 of 940 posts

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#291
post #219
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…

Leave it on your enemies porch while they're away on vacation, then any revenge will be had on your enemy. Or your enemy opens the box.

This is another level of thinking

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#292
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They couldn't do anything with the footage of them taking it from the front porch. But with close up footage of their face and GPS coordinates of some of their houses it seems like a different story.

Here in Seattle the police and DA explicitly do not give a shit about property crimes. Awesome at parking enforcement though.

[Citation Needed] 'Explicit' means something. I'd love to see the reference where the DA explicitly says they do not give a shit about property crimes.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#293
post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned from Nextdoor, that a neighbor of mine put cat litter in an amazon box, and later found out her car's driver side window busted in and the litter dumped on the seat. I now just have packages sent to lockers and UPS/FedEX access points, and I know a few who have packages delivered to their office. The crappy part is that she captured clear detail of both events but police couldn't be bothered. Nest and Ring…

That is a real shame. If the police are not going to mediate property disputes between people, they take a lot of risk those disputes will escalate into violence. Perhaps really-good passive defense is enough (e.g. package lock boxes) but I also hope the police understand the deeper reasoning around their position and role.

Having lived in a "3rd world" country, I know the police there is useless, but it's interesting how things like resource issues (not enough manpower) is slowly turning living standards of rich countries like the US and UK towards "3rd world" levels.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#294
post #18

it's surprising and sad how 'average' the thieves all seem to be; i expected to see somebody down on their luck, not a guy in a lexus or with a $2000 bike in his room. im trying not to jump to conclusions about humanity. please help.

Imagine how much money you could make hawking shit you stole on eBay and how little income tax you'd pay on it. Until you get caught. Leasing a car isn't beyond the reach of petty criminals.

Ebay will report your sales if you reach a certain threshold.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#295
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.

Where is it a felony to have a CCTV?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#296

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…

(it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ) It's easy to say, because after a while it kind of just rolls off the tongue. If there's no blood, my experience says police aren't interested. And in some jurisdictions, it better be a lot of blood.

Yeah it really depends on where petty theft falls in the spectrum of criminal activity in that area.

In a quiet small town it might get a detective assigned. In a lower-class urban neighborhood, well the cops have bigger fish to fry.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#297
post #30
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but that's because the security footage didn't provide any actual information on the thief. Whereabouts, identity, etc. The GPS location of the thief, clear footage of the face, should be a slam-dunk case for a DA.

> Yes but that's because the security footage didn't provide any actual information on the thief. No, as he stated in the video, the police said it just wasn't worth their time.

That was for the first one though, where all he had was a random persons face, way harder to actually track that person down. For the later ones like the car and even more so the apartment/house it's a much easier case so they might have actually bothered because they can directly link the theft to an actual ID through the plates/address. Even with that the chances they'd bother is medium to low but it's much more likely given the amount of data Mark could hand over.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#299
post #111
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?

Remember a lot of people in the US are in single family homes detached from another home. When I lived in a condo or apartment they could other leave a special key for big boxes in your normal mailbox. You would leave the key in the special mailbox for later. Or they would put it in your rental office. Large condos will have a concierge that will handle it for you. Usually UPS will put it somewhere out of sight if th…

>When I lived in a condo or apartment they could other leave a special key for big boxes in your normal mailbox. You would leave the key in the special mailbox for later. Or they would put it in your rental office.

Exactly this. I sorta hate it, we have 2 boxes for like 12 units and one of the boxes keys was lost before I moved in so we have 1 box for 12 units with people getting packages almost daily it means I have to rush home and rush to the office to get my packages.

Since moving in it's considerably cut down my Amazon purchases, unless I can time them to arrive on Saturdays or Sundays when I'm home. I'll actually delete my cart sometimes if something isn't going to come on a Saturday or Sunday haha.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#300
post #228
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…

I learned from Nextdoor, that a neighbor of mine put cat litter in an amazon box, and later found out her car's driver side window busted in and the litter dumped on the seat. I now just have packages sent to lockers and UPS/FedEX access points, and I know a few who have packages delivered to their office. The crappy part is that she captured clear detail of both events but police couldn't be bothered. Nest and Ring…

Maybe with ubiquitous accurate facial recognition we could name and shame these individuals. You could then be walking around and identifying criminals as you go, denying them service, food, shelter, or water. We could create isolated communities of criminals, wall off the rest of the world, and deliver ourselves from evil.
Post reply on HN