A Texas college student sought revenge on an anonymous neighbor who was reportedly stealing their food deliveries.
“I want to find out who it is, but I also want to get revenge,” TikTok user Ethan (@ethanphamtastic) says in a viral clip he shared to the platform. As of Wednesday morning, his initial TikTok had over 1.6 million views.
@ethanphamtastic the food delivery thief strikes again #fyp #college #dormlife #utaustin #texas ♬ Mr. Blue Sky – The Vals
In a series of videos, Ethan reveals his plan to viewers. First, he fills a Chipotle bag with a fake Chipotle bowl full of vegetables. Then, he includes a photo in the bag with a caption that read, “Caught you in 4K.” The college student went a step further, too, acquiring a fork and napkins from Chipotle to make the prank look more realistic.
Ethan shows viewers where couriers at his university leave food deliveries and placed the fake Chipotle order there for his victim to grab. “The bait has been placed,” Ethan says after dropping off the bag. “I’m going to come down later today and see if they took it.”
Someone stole the Chipotle bag within hours, Ethan says in a follow-up video. But since he didn’t catch the culprit, he decided to try the prank again—this time with a slight twist.
“A lot of y’all said that vegetables were too nice and suggested putting trash in the bag instead, so let’s try it,” he explains. Keeping with the theme, Ethan also includes a photo in the food bag that read: “When someone steals your trash.”
In the second video, Ethan reveals to viewers that his plan to catch the thief was, admittedly, “still in the works.”
“Honestly, right now, I’m probably not going to know who’s stealing the food,” he says. “I just want to troll them a little bit just so they can stop stealing people’s food, you know?”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ethan via TikTok comment. As of publication, it was unclear whether the second bag of food was stolen, too.
Still, Ethan’s ingenuity impressed many viewers. Some even gave tips for how he could catch the culprit.
“Why not just buy an Apple AirTag and put it in the bag and track where it goes?” wrote one viewer.
“No, put a glitter bomb,” read another comment.
“USE LAXATIVES!!!!!” said a third TikToker.
