CALGARY – The video has been viewed more than 120,000 times, and it’s one every home owner may want to take a look at.
Police said the brochure break-in scheme is likely a new way thieves are targeting homes in the city.
Calgarians are used to receiving flyers and brochures on their doorsteps, but when Warren Davio found three at his Coach Hill home Saturday he knew something was odd.
“These were wedged into the weather stripping quite well,” said Davio, of the flyers he found.
That prompted Davio to check his surveillance video.
He found a video showing a man in dark clothes and a hat walk up his driveway shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday. He placed one flyer on the front door and one in each of the garage doors.
“The time of night, the type of flyer is definitely very suspicious,” Cst. Dave Bailey of the Calgary Police Service said.
The flyers promote Air Miles and police suggest they may have been taken from a Shell gas station. Either way, police said they aren’t the kind that would usually be delivered door-to-door.
While schemes like simply knocking on the front door to see if people are home are common, police said this trick is new to Calgary.
Davio has been warning nearby neighbours. Many report finding the same thing.
Police say there haven’t been any new break-ins reported in the area since Friday.
Davio’s video, posted to Facebook Saturday night, had been shared over 27,000 times by Monday.
Now other pictures, taken nearby the same night, are also surfacing.
Davio said the video’s spread on social media suggests neighbours are sending a clear message to any would-be thieves.
“It kind of goes to show these kind of people they aren’t welcome in our communities.”
Police suggest having someone regularly check on – or even stay at – your house while you’re away so they can quickly act on anything that looks suspicious.