A YouTube content creator and former NASA engineer tricked several “porch pirates” intent on stealing delivered packages by placing a bait package rigged with a glitter bomb, fart spray, GPS, and camera outside his house.
In a video, which went viral and amassed over 25 million views, Mark Rober showed off his device before revealing the filmed reactions of thieves opening the package and getting sprayed with glitter and fart spray.
Rober, who reportedly worked on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, was inspired to take matters into his own hands after porch pirates stole a real package from outside his home and police allegedly claimed it wasn’t a big enough crime to investigate.
Someone stole a package from me. Police wouldn’t do anything about it so I spent the last 6 months engineering up some vigilante justice. Revenge is a dish best served fabulously. Vid link- https://t.co/9OjD6ETdbZ pic.twitter.com/u4o0doWglr
— Mark Rober (@MarkRober) December 18, 2018
The engineer spent six months working on the fake package device which was then disguised as an Apple HomePod.
As reported by Digital Trends, “The result was exactly what the engineer was hoping for: The glitter goes flying, the fart smells start pouring out, and the thief tosses the box out of their car. All of the action is captured on camera, so you can enjoy in the misery of the porch pirate as they realize instead of a $350 smart speaker, they actually swiped a glitter-filled stink bomb.”
Last week, it was reported that police in Jersey City were using dummy packages in an effort to catch porch pirates.
“We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken… We thought it was a mistake at first,” declared Jersey City Police Captain James Crecco, while Police Chief Michael Kelly added, “Most of the package thefts we’ve made arrests on revolve around (closed-circuit TV) or private surveillance cameras that give us a still image… With the bait packages, some will be under video surveillance, and some will have GPS.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.
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