Why the DoorDash + AI generated image hustle won't work with dog owners
BlackTechLogy: Homeowners with pet indoor cameras and outdoor security cameras will discredit this delivery scam quickly
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Every time I rewatch Scott Evans’s “Houseguest” episode with Taye Diggs, I let out a chuckle at them saying their two least favorite sounds are doorbells and phones ringing. While their reasons may differ from mine, I can relate. As soon as I hear my doorbell, I know my dog’s high-pitched yelping will follow. (She loathes the sound of the doorbell and lets out a booming bark from knocking too.)
When a new condo owner moved in and forgot his keys at 2 a.m., he rang all of the residents’ doorbells repeatedly for 10 minutes. We’d never met him, so for all we knew, this was some crazy person trying to get into the building. I called the cops because my dog wouldn’t stop yelping, but I didn’t want to confront a stranger in the middle of the night. (He lied and claimed his “elderly mother” — who I have yet to see several months later — was inside after I opened the door when the police arrived. The next morning, I printed out a sign for a locksmith and a neighborhood hardware store for him to get key copies and taped both of them to his door.)
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The only doorbell incident more annoying than that was a new tenant who bought a chocolate shake at 10 p.m. Why she needed this $15 shake at 10 p.m. is beyond me, but the DoorDash delivery guy went to the wrong door and kept ringing our doorbells over and over and over again. Another resident gave in and buzzed him in, and the delivery guy left this shake on top of our mailbox shelf overnight.
In the morning, it was green, gray and disgusting — and the chocolate shake tenant still rang our doorbells to retrieve and drink it. To each her own. Just like that, I started appreciating FedEx, UPS, DSL and Amazon delivery people who drop off packages outside without ringing bells. Even the guy who left my favorite pizzeria’s Beyond Meat and Field Roast pizza on the floor of my front door didn’t seem so bad anymore.
Artificial intelligence is making delivery tricky
While X user Byrne Hobart was waiting for his food to arrive, his DoorDash delivery person clearly had other plans, which included using an AI-generated image of Hobart’s door to act like he’d delivered the food. Although Hobart described which door was correct and which was AI, there was really no need. Food delivery bags don’t usually float in front of doors; gravity won’t allow that. It was impressive, however, how the DoorDash rep managed to use an image that did look like the design of his actual door though.
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And as many times as I’ve used Google Maps to avoid going to the wrong door ever again, I have also been able to zoom in on the door of the home. Still, I immediately cringed, wondering if anybody on Wag! or Rover would be dumb enough to try this scam and fake like they walked a dog. You’d have to already have a photograph of the dog and the door to get away with it, but some brainiac may get ideas. (Missing out on the opportunity to walk a dog is beyond me.)
Coincidentally, before I could finish reading the DoorDash article, my doorbell rang and I immediately heard that yelping sound. This is one of many reasons why AI deliveries would never work at my condo. First, my dog thinks she owns the block — 90% of the time, all I see is a blur of dark fur flying past me, leaping onto the couch, slapping the blinds open and looking outside before the delivery person can even get to the entrance.
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I usually know the delivery person has arrived solely from owning a nosey dog. So there’s only a 10% chance (right now) that DoorDash and AI scams could work. Sorta.
Because the next thing I did when I heard the yelping was pick up my phone to look at my outdoor camera to see who was there. (It was a delivery guy dropping off my HP Instant Ink cartridges.)
Delivery people trying out this DoorDash AI photo scam would have to go through more trouble tricking indoor and outdoor cameras, plus dogs, to pull this one off.