BRIDGEPORT — It was a few weeks before Christmas, in the middle of what seemed like a normal week, and I was expecting a friend to stop by my apartment, a ground floor unit in the heart of the neighborhood.
It was early afternoon, and I had just returned from the coffee shop down the block. Sitting in the living room, reading an email on my phone and expecting my buddy to drop in any minute, I left my front door unlocked.
The door knob soon jiggled, and I looked up. The door slowly opened. A man stepped inside my apartment, but this man was not my friend.
I had never seen him before.
My heart rate jumping, I took a step forward, and we locked eyes: "Oh," he said, startled someone was home. "I'm sorry." He stepped outside, pulling the door closed behind him.
I took a deep breath and walked up to the door and opened it: "Can I help you?" I asked.
The man, toting a clipboard and wearing a jacket with a pocket logo I did not recognize, said he was with the electric company. He had been sent, he claimed, to check on something inside my place. I wasn't sure what he was looking for, but I had no intentions of letting him inside.
I asked him if he had talked with my landlord. He had not.
"Hold on," I said, closing the door and locking it. In my office, I wrote down my landlord's phone number and brought it to the man with the clipboard.
"If you want to come into my apartment," I said, "you need to clear it with my landlord first."
I closed the door and called my landlord, who said I should have called the cops.
It wouldn't be until Tuesday's neighborhood CAPS meeting that I would learn about criminals masquerading as energy workers.
It turns out there have been many cases in the neighborhood where someone will knock on the the door acting like a water worker or cable guy. While the knocker is keeping you occupied, a second — and even third — burglar will sneak in and ransack the place.
Chicago Police offered some tips about what to watch out for and what to do when there's a knock at the door and there's a man standing there with a clipboard.
They’re watching
These burglars will watch your house for two or three weeks to learn when you’re coming and going. Once they know your routine, police said, they’ll make up a game plan.
They’re brazen
They’ll ring your doorbell, knock at your door — or just let themselves inside.
Don’t let anyone inside
Make them wait on the porch and never open the door. Talk through the door to get as much information as you can, and then grab your phone.
Call the police
If the guy’s standing there when the cops show up to check his ID, he’s probably legit. But nine times out of 10, police say, he’s looking to rip you off. When you come back and look out your window, he’ll be gone.
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