It’s that time of year again: there’s snow on the ground, the Christmas spirit in the air, and thieves are doubling their efforts to steal your packages from your porch when you’re not home.
You could install a Ring doorbell and hope it will scare some of those Grinches off…or you can go on the offensive, like this ex-NASA engineer determined to make package thieves regret their life choices.
Image Credit: YouTube
Here’s the fake product box:
Image Credit: YouTube
Image Credit: YouTube
Engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober first designed his anti-theft device in 2018, but decided that it needed improvements if he was going to catch robbers in the action year after year. The new device includes GPS trackers, smartphones, wide-angle cameras, fart spray, and glitter. It truly is an invention that Kevin McAllister, Rober’s self-processed inspiration, would have been proud to design himself.
Speaking of…
Image Credit: YouTube
Image Credit: YouTube
The new fart spray is more potent, smelling like “proper poo,” according to one test subject.
Image Credit: YouTube
Rober tests his product by sending packages to volunteers around the country who then bait robbers by leaving the boxes on their porches – and thanks to the cameras, we all get to see what happens when a thief ends up on the wrong end of a stinky glitter bomb.
Image Credit: YouTube
Image Credit: YouTube
They were, by and large, properly irritated and disgusted at being foiled, though one dude had seen the videos on YouTube and realized what was happening, and another tried to give the gift to his (presumably now ex-) girlfriend.
The honest people who tried to return the packages to their rightful owners were each gifted $400 for doing the right thing “because that was the opportunity cost for them when they made the right choice,” says Rober.
I really hope this story gets shared far and wide, so that maybe thieves in the future won’t be so keen on snatching things that don’t belong to them.
Also cause it is hilarious.
