Christmas light trick was scam

DENVER – A man who boasted to reporters around the world that his Web site allowed strangers to turn his outdoor Christmas lights off and on admitted Monday it was a hoax designed, he said, to spread holiday cheer.

Alek Komarnitsky, a computer specialist, said he started the site two years ago to see if he could use computer tricks to make it look as if the thousands of lights adorning his house in Lafayette were blinking on command.

This year, he went even further: At one point, with a TV station helicopter hovering overhead, his wife was inside, turning the lights off and on herself.

The Web site was featured in news stories. Komarnitsky said he decided to announce his scam to the Wall Street Journal because it had gotten “a little out of hand.”

On his site, Komarnitsky explained how he used a series of still photographs of his house from three angles – with the lights either on or off and with varying amounts of snow on the ground.

To make it seem even more real, he’d sometimes add an image to the Web cam “shot” of a person or a car driving by looking at the lights. He’d even add computer-generated low-flying planes because an airport was near his home.

When one television reporter came to view how the display worked, Komarnitsky said he responded that the Web cam was broken and he was waiting for a part to be delivered.