Did I Almost Get Robbed?
 

So yesterday while I was out, a man came to my house and knocked on the door. My brother answered and the man said, "I'm here to clean your gutters, is there anybody home?". At the time 3 people were at home so the man told my brother to have my parents call him because he had apparently been trying to get ahold of them to clean the gutters for the last month.

But here's why it was really suspicious. He came in a black altima, parked on the other end of the street, with three other men waiting in the car. He had no uniform, no work issued van/truck or any equipment. On top of that, he knocked on the door instead of ringing the door bell. I'm guessing that's to make you open the door instead of talking to him through the intercom.

Unfortunately my brother couldn't get a look at the plate because the car was parked so far away. He called me right after the man left and I drove around for a while looking for the car, but had no luck. I've already reported it to the police, but I doubt it'll do anything since I wasn't able to get a plate number.

Anyways, has this or something similar happened to anyone else? Any other suggestions as to what I could do? Thanks.

it does sound kinda suspicious


what nationality was the dude? which area? (richmond?)

Sounds VERY suspicious. What did your parents say? Are they actually waiting for people to clean the gutters?

white guy, medium build. and yup its in Richmond.

My parents have never scheduled anyone to clean our gutters before. I do it every year with a shitty wooden ladder in the back yard haha.

Most residential break and enters are done during the day because the occupants of the house are most likely not going to be home. It is quite common that they will knock on the door or ring the door bell prior to breaking into the house just to make sure they aren't going to come across somebody inside of the house. They will usually then go around the back of your house and access it through a back window or door. Based on what you have said here there is a good possibility they were casing your house to do a break and enter.

Could you please post as detailed of a description as possible of the suspect(s) and their vehicle. Also could you please PM me the file number and I will review it next time I am back at work. Thanks in advance.

if they came in a Altima filled with people.... it doesnt sound like they COULD steal from your place... where are they going to put the stuff???



maybe he was off work and decided to drop by and ask, but got the wrong house? or maybe they were thugs planning on beating someone up but got the wrong place (and realized it after seeing your brother)

its fishy yes but like i said where are they going to stick your stuff... coming in a Van would be suspicious

^ they are not always after high-end home theater equipments either
OP should've asked what the company's name was to call his bluff

I clean gutters, but I didn't have a company vehicle before. I do knock on doors sometimes, but I never show up in a car with no ladders, so they do sound suspicious.
One time I showed up at a customers home, but my brother showed up earlier in a mustang. Police were called and showed up 10 mins later when I was cleaning.

my 2 cents, 3 dude in an altima is probably looking for a certain person (a hit) like gang war

if I were to rob someone, i would drive a van instead of a regular sedan and park my car in ther back alley and probably strike at night time

oh, this can't be that good for me.... I always ignore door bells and door knocks unless I'm expecting someone.
Cause I couldn't care less what people need to sell me and in this day and age (at least for me),
people know to call before coming, and random visits don't happen anymore.

holly shit charlie, shit was about to go down.... sounds very suspicious to me

where abouts in richmond?

No, you almost got raped. (That was the end of the mouseover preview from the list)

Me too.

If I'm not expecting anyone, I just let them ring/knock. My dog barks like hell and I let her do so. It also feels safer to have a Pitbull at home too :)

Same thing happened around my neighbourhood. There would be a guy or two going around asking to clean gutters. They would then bring up a ladder and start cleaning or whatever and apparently, they would go to the back and just take stuff. Even if you were home, they'd still take stuff from the back. Bikes, tools, etc...

I dont know what happened to the guys but a couple of my neighbours were victims. My dad was foolish enough to say yes to them but nothing was taken from us. This was happening last year I think. I dont remember around what month exactly though.

Hopefully none of you guys become victim to this.

edit: this was around main and marine drive

you would drive a burger van

I had 2 guys break into my house when I was 13. Since my house before had a "beware of dog" sign, they brought the shovel up from the garage to hit my "dog" with it. instead they found me, blah blah blah *personal info* and i called police after

Which area of Richmond was this?

I had a random knock this morning around 7-8ish, It was pretty suspicious because we just moved to this area and not too many people know that I live here right now.

mm....sounds fishy...

and this is why i'm semi-glad i live in a electronically protected apartment. especially with the thought of the wife and/or child at home alone when these guys knock on the door. it's not full-proof but at least it's quite difficult for some guy off the street to break in. it's almost always (when it does happen) an inside job.

^ ive heard of break ins for apts. the guy was saying how his neighbor got robbed im like oh what happened? hes like well the owner was home alone and this big black guy kicked open her front door and robbed her. this is an apartment too.

This was in Richmond. Asians have cash and jewelry in their homes, man. Why steal a TV or stereo equipment? Plus, four people = much faster.

thanks for all your help and info!

4 White guys in Richmond = definitely criminals