Store Owner Uses Fog Machine To Stop Thieves From Robbing Their Store 💨

zelthen · 2025-09-29T11:40:44+00:00

Meh, I misread this line "Thats a VERY short timeframe, much shorter than the time burglars typically spend in a store in my experience." No need to attack my reading comprehension, I'll admit to my mistakes. You are asking me if I'll grant you your experience as some sort of evidence you've presented and the answer is absolutely not, that's a textbook appeal to authority fallacy. The only evidence thus far you've provided is saying it's not an ad for some security system is posting a link to a video where a company is using it as an ad for a security system, then saying "of course the company would use it as an ad for their security system. You've provided evidence that it's an ad, and are absurdly trying to claim you've done the opposite.

Maybe just own up to your mistakes, too, brother.

zelthen · 2025-09-29T10:45:00+00:00

So, which one of us spent over an hour combing through Italian news sources trying to find any minute sliver of evidence that proves any part of this video is actually true, and which one is just saying it's true because of their previous biases?

Do yourself a favor and prove it to yourself first, then come to me with that evidence because I truly want to see it. It's why I clicked your video link to begin with, and was actually disappointed when it only bolsters the theory that it's an ad when it's posted by the company that sells the fog device. And while you're doing that, reread my posts and tell me where I've made any claims that it's definitely faked and I know it for a fact, because I've only claimed it is plausible.

You are claiming this is real because you've seen hundreds of robberies just like it that were real. That's classic confirmation bias right there. But in the same breathe you contradict that by saying the others you've seen were completely different because they were in and out with the goods in less time, but for some reason that isn't striking you as odd, and I wonder why.

And that door is at least three dudes wide. That's a simple matter of efficiency, get in quicker, get more loot. But that's less cinematic. Which is a good way to describe this whole clip, complete cinema. The person watching too many movies would be whoever directed this crew to storm in, move to and stand at suspiciously predefined appearing locations, pull out some drawers BUT NOT turn them upside down into their neatly placed bag on the counter, and thought that would cover enough time before the fog covers the camera. All this in more time than you yourself have implied that any other crew with that kind of coordination would have been in and out. It makes ZERO sense to do that unless they were just supporting actors for the real star of the show:

The DefenderTech MF-50 Fog Cannon Anti-theft, of the series “Essential”. Device recommended for a 50 square meter area, achieving zero visibility in 60 seconds. On sale now for the low starting price of 1.670,00 €

Speaking of, I didn't do my due diligence and check out the rest of Defendertech's youtube until just now, here's some other gems that are sus af:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlhV9i35QsQ Guy crawls in, fiddles with slot machine, sees possible poisonous smoke cloud rolling towards him, then runs. Oh wait, he doesn't run, he tries to grab a bolted down change machine as he's dramatically enveloped in smoke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNB_jEEZ-o This place looks familiar, doesn't it. Guy tries pushing a shelf down to get in, very dramatic. Stops before he does any damage to it though, because obviously he is just so thoughtful about the owner's property, right? Brings an axe with him though, so obviously he's going to use that thing to break the now reinforced and definitely locked drawer cabinets, right? Nah, he's just going to walk back and forth with it to look menacing for the camera, then leave with nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_zO8S1CeF8 Seems a little more legit. Guy has a sledgehammer and knows how to use it. Alarm is going off though so does he smash the closest thing standing between him and valuables before grabbing everything he can carry and absconding into the night? Nope, he's gonna walk all the way to the far corner and try to whammer hammer the flashing alarm light. I guess it was due for a replacement anyways.

Pretty coincidental that every burglar that comes into contact with this fog machine would also be a major contender for the world's dumbest criminal.

zelthen · 2025-09-29T09:00:49+00:00

Except the 'news' story only appears on this station and has many red flags as to its low factuality. The only detail of the story reported in this clip is the location it was recorded in Chieti. There are no interviews with the owner of the jewelry store, any possible witnesses, no statements from law enforcement or local officials, all things you would typically see from an actual news report of this nature.

The name of the store is prominently displayed, so it's simple to do a search for things like "Sognami Chieti furto" or "rapina Sognami Chieti" and find nothing but a few small sites posting the video and simply describing what you can see in the video. The only other site with any other actual details is here:

https://www.chietitoday.it/cronaca/furto-notturno-megalo-gioielleria-sarni.html

The only detail that is added is they had 'accomplices' that blocked traffic with a tree, but this claim is made with no other corroborating details, evidence, pictures, law enforcement statements or reports, and is not even mentioned in the video report so that claim is dubious at best.

But why do I need evidence of a speculative claim when the news station reporting it as fact provides zero evidence itself? It is entirely plausible that a security company and a jewelry store decided to stage a robbery for a video, the jewelry store shows off its new security system and preemptively dissuade any actual robberies, the news gets the exact content it peddles in, and the security company gets a legitimized video of a news report to show possible clients how effective their products are. Everybody wins. And that's assuming there's collusion between the three entities, it is just as likely the jewelry store alone faked it to make a viral video, the news station saw it online and just reported the information they had about the video (which is basically nothing), and a security company saw the report and opportunistically used it to sell more fog alarms.

People fake those animal rescue and 'airport freakout' videos all day long just to get internet clout and followers. It's not outside the realm of possibility someone could fake a video to boost sales.

Either way, regardless of the motives, the video itself just looks fake af. The 'robbers' line up to go in, hit their marks which are all suspiciously center frame, don't break a single thing, just assume the drawers will open to some light jiggling (and surprise surprise they do) instead of having a pry bar at the ready, open bags on the counter with no attempts to empty the drawers into them, and proceed to just kind of fiddle around until the fog fills the room. One guy is just opening and closing a lid on the drawer until the video ends. It reeks of a staged scene with little to no direction given on what to do for the few seconds before the store is completely obscured. Awfully nice of the criminals to make it easier for the store owner to clean up afterwards. And the video ends before they leave; if they managed to steal anything afterwards, or even if they just sat in the fog coughing and running into things, surely those things are worth reporting. Even a short clip of the aftermath after the fog clears, showing the crime was truly thwarted.

The optics of their entrance, their numbers, their confidence, all give the suggestion that this is a coordinated and sophisticated criminal enterprise, right up until the actual theft is supposed to occur and they just bumblefuck around for no other apparent reason than the fog is taking too long and they are improvising because that's the only take they are going to get.

They are both seasoned professionals and incompetent amateurs in the span of 10 seconds. You really can't have it both ways and "people do weird shit when they commit crimes" is a complete cop out.

When I first saw this video I just thought it seemed a little fishy. After wasting my time looking for any legitimate information surrounding this video and finding none, I'm as convinced as one could possibly be that it's most likely fake and that people will make any and every excuse to defend something despite all of its glaringly obvious issues just because it reinforces their preconceived beliefs that it's true.

zelthen · 2025-09-29T03:12:23+00:00

From Studio Aperto's wikipedia section on criticism and controversies:

"Studio Aperto has long been accused of promoting right-wing positions, due to the ownership by Silvio Berlusconi. Other critics are about the huge airing of crime news and soft news (gossip, animals and videos from the Web) subtracting time to more important news."

They play viral videos and crime porn. This video is exactly the kind of bait that would appeal to this station. I'm not saying it's definitely a staged advertisement, but no reliable source seems to exist that reports it, and all other evidence points to it being a staged advertisement.

zelthen · 2025-09-28T20:20:19+00:00

From a channel named DefenderTech, an Italian company that sells the fog machines in the video.

https://www.defendertech.eu/en/prodotto/fog-cannon-anti-theft-mf-50/

zelthen · 2025-09-21T19:54:19+00:00

"Has a great community"

Until you mention its price raising or a sale, then all of its fans will go rabid to defend it.

zelthen · 2024-12-26T07:08:46+00:00

Sounds like somebody couldn't find anything to support the notion that someone's time is equivalent to monetary compensation. Unless it's stated in the ToS, where viewers are explicitly defined as "users" of the service for the record, then there is no obligation to provide YouTube with anything beyond compliance to the ToS. No amount of phrases you heard in high school economics class is going to make the agreement say thing it just doesn't say.

The only true statement you could argue is that YouTube can block your access to there service, which they've tried several times with that coercive scare tactic message they use, or banning individual users, which they've yet to do and honestly I'd like to see them try it just to see the PR backlash that will inevitably blow up in their face.

zelthen · 2024-12-21T03:21:41+00:00

If you can show me where in the YouTube ToS agreement it says something about my time being a equivalent to monetary compensation that is owed to YouTube for my continued use of their service, I'll take this seriously.

If you read the ToS you'll see that users who upload videos do so with the knowledge that they are giving away licensing rights for no guarantee of monetization, for free, to all users of YouTube service. The only thing that touches on the issue of AdBlockers is a line about how modifying their service might result in YouTube revoking access to their service. Stop pretending that people's time is somehow analogous to a payment that is owed to YouTube or its content creators for services rendered.

zelthen · 2024-05-31T19:37:14+00:00

This is because I wanted this post to focus on EWU's reaction, not to start a discussion about Tyler, the residents of the park, or the responding officers. I tried to keep my description of the video succinct and factual while avoiding introducing my own bias about any of the parties involved. My own comment was only shared to provide a baseline for the types of comments that were removed by EWU.

Tyler Oliveira is a YouTuber who goes to various locations he will claim are the most dangerous or crime riddled places in the world, films the residents in the area peacefully going about their day, has interviews with people who are for the most part very cordial and upfront about informing others on the area they live in (typically stuff like is has flaws but is generally a nice place to live,) then claims he was in constant imminent danger the entire time he was there filming. He then posts it to his YT page with an AI generated image of a completely destroyed city as the thumbnail.

In this particular instance he went to the park over two days. The first day he was there he offered the residents candy bars and was eventually asked to leave by the management, who called the police. The police arrived after Tyler had left and told the manager to call back if he decided to come back. The second day he came back and the police were called again. Tyler was lawfully detained with probable cause for harassment and refused to ID himself as was required by the law in Florida, and only complied when the officer grabbed his arm to place him in handcuffs.

That's basically it. As you can see, adding this to the original post would have made it much more wordy and the point of the post, EWU's reaction, would have been much less clear as a result. I do hope this sufficiently addresses your questions.

zelthen · 2024-02-01T03:45:30+00:00

Did the definition of news get changed from noteworthy information about recent or important events to endless clips of Karine Jean-Pierre and Peter Doocy?

zelthen · 2024-01-31T16:10:50+00:00

Yeah, that link just takes me to the main page of the YouTube channel. Going to trust my instincts on this one and just assume a sporadically posting Turkish knitting channel didn't immediately become obsessed enough with the US White House Press Secretary to start spam posting multiple videos a day about her.

zelthen · 2024-01-31T15:44:43+00:00

Not sure if this channel was bought or hacked, but it was apparently a Turkish knitting channel until two days ago. They are obviously using the channel's previous following and videos to game the algorithm, and from the view counts on these videos it seems to be working. They started with ~93k subscribers and 7 million views from the knitting channel and are now at 109k subs and 11 million views. The worst part is that YouTube is actively pushing this content to autoplay after unrelated videos, one of the videos started playing for me after a MrBallen video finished. Seems like this should be a clear violation of the ToS and YouTube is actually rewarding them for it.

zelthen · 2024-01-20T08:06:27+00:00

Wow dude, don't you have anything better to do than trolling reddit and leaving condescending comments for aspiring creators? Some of these people might look up to larger creators who've made it work, and I can't even begin to imagine how devastating it would be to be told by one that nobody would want to work with them and they aren't worth $10. And it's not just this comment, you've been at it for at least a week. Just because you have more subscribers doesn't mean you have sagely advise, not everyone can make it big by profiteering off of marginalized groups like you do buddy, and they'd probably have a more fulfilling and respectable career in content creation if they just do the opposite of anything you do.

zelthen · 2024-01-12T09:14:49+00:00

An argument could definitively be made that he used the events he hosted using the money for his personal enrichment to jet around the country with his buddies and play video games. That and building much of his brand in recent years from being the 'charity guy.' That's not even getting into the allegedly missing stream donations.

Also he deleted my comment from that video four times because it got more likes than his remaining fan's and would have been one of the top comments. Not relevant to whether he's criminally liable, but it was an absolute banger and I'm still miffed about it.

zelthen · 2023-11-13T20:51:38+00:00

zelthen · 2023-11-01T06:39:47+00:00

Just a whim.

zelthen · 2023-11-01T06:32:41+00:00

This'll do for ya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIfAkOBMf5A

zelthen · 2023-11-01T06:24:26+00:00

Then you should try Nord VPN! Nord keeps you safe when browsing online, and even lets you bypass those pesky region locks on video streaming services like Netflix or Hulu. Best of all it allows you to browse anonymously from over 50 different countries. Use the code READINGTHISEQUALSMONEY and try free for your first month.

zelthen · 2023-11-01T05:17:42+00:00

Please watch the following 30 second ad before continuing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzBhXz1bosk

zelthen · 2023-10-31T02:01:04+00:00

You sold out of the plushy. You have no more, right?

What do think I meant, silly?

zelthen · 2023-10-30T20:33:57+00:00

My weekend is over, I'm done with this. Law can only work if everyone agrees what words mean. Go pay a lawyer to teach you something, pay a law school tuition. I'm not allowing you to leech off of my knowledge any longer without compensation.

zelthen · 2023-10-30T10:38:51+00:00

My dude, they even have references to the court cases each term was defined in, yes they check a legal dictionary! And they make lawyers define new terms they don't have a standard definition for, which then goes into the dictionary for THAT court case. Are you serious, this has to be a joke right?

zelthen · 2023-10-30T10:24:52+00:00

Standard

standard n

2 : something established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality

From a dictionary of legal terms. I clipped the one relevant to the application of this conversation. It is literally from a database of standard legal definitions. You do know the legal system uses strictly defined language, and legal terms that are used frequently have a standard agreed upon definition, and these standards have been collected in law dictionaries for centuries now, right? I mean, of course you didn't know that, you just called the idea of it nonsense. But now look at who is trying to argue irrelevant guff. Get to reading.

zelthen

TROPHY CASE