Did you call the police? He probably was casing your house for a burglary. If
neighbors saw him on the block they'd be likely to pay no notice, thinking he
was just a workman. Had you not answered, he would have probably tried to break
in. Since you did answer the door, he had to say something to explain away his
knock, and since you saw him he had to leave instead of going to the next
house, which was what a person with legitimate business would have done.
> Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:08:47 -0400
> To: univcity@list.purple.com; pf...@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
> From: gmas...@reo.med.upenn.edu
> Subject: [UC] smoke detector scam?
>
> Although the fire department does have a smoke detector program,
> there may be someone trying to case houses. Please see the 2
> conversations below from our block listserve.
>
> 1. Perhaps this is not necessary (better safe than sorry though),
> but we had a strange occurrence at our house. Sunday, around noon, a
> man knocked at our door (4900 block of Cedar). He did not introduce
> himself and asked whether our smoke detectors were working. Once we
> told him yes, they are working, he turned around and walked away, and
> we noticed he didn't walk up to our neighbors.
>
> We thought it a bit unusual, and perhaps it was nothing more than
> that, but I wanted to put it out there since the fire department
> would have had an obvious uniform and they usually make an initial
> phone call. Did anyone else experience this visitor over the
> weekend? He looked to be 5'6'' ish, light-skinned African-American
> man, early thirties, medium build, and close-cut hair. He wore an
> all dark-blue uniform with a "Ray" name badge, and carried a
> walkie-talkie.
>
> 2. I spoke to the fire department, and they said this guy was not
> with them. They said that the fire department was not checking houses
> on our block this weekend, and that any legitimate person would
> clearly say that he or she is from the fire department and show ID.
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------
> Dr. Gail Massey
> Room 243 John Morgan Bldg.
> Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
> University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6082
> Ph:215-898-6850; Fax: 215-898-2401
> E-Mail: gmas...@reo.med.upenn.edu
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