Watch booby-trapped Amazon package cover thieves in glitter and fart spray

midian182

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In brief: Stealing an Amazon package off someone’s front porch has become a popular crime, and while police are proactively trying to combat it, one YouTube channel is fighting back through the magic of glitter and fart spray.

Mark Rober is a mechanical engineer who spent nine years at NASA, 7 of them working on the Curiosity Rover. The latest video on his YouTube channel shows how a package from Amazon was stolen from his porch, leading to him building a glitter bomb trap.

The fake package contains a custom-print circuit board with a built-in accelerometer. When it’s moved, the GPS tracker checks to see if it’s no longer on the porch, if so, the four included smartphones start recording and the footage is uploaded to the cloud. The GPS also lets Mark see the box’s location.

Not content with recording someone in the act, the package, which is made to look like it contains one of Apple’s expensive HomePod speakers, hurls a ton of glitter using a spinning tub that Mark created, all while repeatedly spraying out fart gas.

The thieves’ reactions when they open the boxes are fantastic and mostly very funny. Maybe it’ll make them think twice about taking something that isn’t theirs again—but probably not.

Last week, it was reported that more police are using sting operations in which they place fake Amazon deliveries embedded with GPS trackers on doorsteps to try to catch criminals. A good plan, though booby-trapping them to unload tear gas and pepper spray when opened might be going too far.

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I would have included some sort of sticky residue, that causes the glitter to stick to everything
it touches, WITH the fart spray, but, I would have substituted SKUNK spray.
 
It's private property... sounds like the comment of a porch thief right there!

Also fart spray is not enough, put bear spray in that that thing!!

Honestly people that steal packages makes me rage, I'd happy put C4 instead of glitter!
If someone is intentionally harmed on private property you are responsible, period!
 
I would have included some sort of sticky residue, that causes the glitter to stick to everything
it touches, WITH the fart spray, but, I would have substituted SKUNK spray.

1) if the glitter were sticky it wouldn't spray, you'd have a glitter glob.
2) glitter already sticks to everything because of static. As a parent of a small child I have joked about this with other parents - it's called the 'herpes of arts and crafts' because you can never ever get rid of it. it's so light weight that it's very hard to vacuum. They will find glitter in little cracks and corners for a long time.
 
That's illegal to booby trap items in public.
Federal postage is not public.

If someone is intentionally harmed on private property you are responsible, period!
As soon as the thief is charged with a federal offense. I will gladly accept whatever charges the glitter and fart spray brings forward.
 
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That is the most awesome thing I've seen in awhile. The police should hire this guy, make more and different devices.
 
My new hero. When will criminals realize that crime will ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt at some point in the future? It's never worth it.
 
My new hero. When will criminals realize that crime will ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt at some point in the future? It's never worth it.
I wish that's what I took away from his video. My analysis was more like one time out of a hundred thousand you get a glitter bomb and fart smell, and the other 99,999 times you get a free package, even when someone has you on video committing the crime.

I get that police can't go on a wild goose chase when they have no clues to work from, but when as here they are handed gold-plated evidence and still refuse to act, good citizens have a problem.
 
Why is Amazon delivering packages this way? Why are people accepting that? I mean, it would be easy to store the packages someplace and have people come to collect them. It would also not be that hard to deliver them when people are at home. Why do this thing where you just put packages outside homes where you know that people come and take them?
 
Why is Amazon delivering packages this way? Why are people accepting that? I mean, it would be easy to store the packages someplace and have people come to collect them. It would also not be that hard to deliver them when people are at home. Why do this thing where you just put packages outside homes where you know that people come and take them?
Because in the real world, where a great many people work during the daytime, including both the people receiving the package and delivering it, this is the available option. I suppose for the 1% there's the option of having the butler receive the package, or drive to the UPS facility to pick it up.
 
Federal postage is not public.

As soon as the thief is charged with a federal offense. I will gladly accept whatever charges the glitter and fart spray brings forward.
And your defense lawyer will cost you as well as lost wages for court and jail time. Good luck with that!
 
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