WARNING: Man posing(?) as Tufts student, seeking entry (College Ave between Davis and Powderhouse)

[numbersnletters.livejournal.com]

A man came to my door today requesting entry. He said "I'm here to see the house." I could hear him through the mail slot and see him through the window but I did not open the door.

He was male, looked about 25, possibly Hispanic (dark skin, eyes, hair), 6', medium build, wearing a light blue T-shirt with "Tufts" in extra-large white lettering on the front.

When I asked who he had talked to, he said "I'm here to look at the house." I asked, "who sent you here?" and he said, "the landlord sent me to look at the house". When pressed, he did not know the name of the landlord, or of anyone who lived at my house. I said he could not come in. He then said that he had gotten the address on "the Tufts housing web site; I'm a Tufts student". He stated that it was "a three-bedroom?" which is incorrect. I said that he must have the wrong house because as far as I knew, we didn't even have any rooms available, and that we had 7 bedrooms, not three. He said, "Right, three bedrooms on the top floor, four on the bottom". This was all wrong, and I said, "I'm sorry, I can't let a strange man into the house." and went away from the door. He shouted "You're crazy!" and left. I called the police, but the female dispatcher said that they had several emergencies in the area and couldn't send anyone, but to call back if he returned.

This occurred on College Ave between Davis Square and the Powderhouse rotary. This guy looked about 25 years old and was demanding and rude to his 'housing prospect'. It's possible that he just had the wrong address, but my gut registered him as sketchy.

Thanks for reading. Be safe, and have a great weekend!

EDIT: Crap, this happened just a block or two away from where an assault was alleged two weeks ago: http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/616822.html

Comments

[spatch]

Tufts does maintain an off-campus housing resource online, but a cursory check of the property listings shows that all the entries list landlord/realtor contact information only, and absolutely no physical street addresses (save a few mentions of "on the corner of X and Y.") I'm also very sure that no landlord or realtor, when they have a prospective tenant, suggests the tenant go check the place out by themselves. It just don't add up.

I think you were right to consider him sketchy. Could be a possible "casing the joint" type of operation, or ... ugh. Possible assault.

I'd be curious to see whether or not anybody else in the area received a similar visitor today and I hope nobody has been hurt.

[numbersnletters.livejournal.com]

I edited the post with more of what I remembered: that we didn't even have rooms available, which I stated to him.

[katespace.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's scary. And yes, my sketch alarm would have been pinging loudly too.

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

I would guess that could only legitimately happen if you have the wrong address. Thanks for the discription too.

I keep my digital camera handy as well, but I doubt I will ever get to use it.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this. Sorry that happened to you...

[ron_newman]

Very suspicious -- thanks for the warning.

[capsicumanuum.livejournal.com]

This sounds a whole lot like a common scam from when I lived in student housing in Brookline and near Fenway park. Someone (usually a young-ish male) would ring the bell and say "Hi, I'm a student at Some University. Our housing office said that the housing co-ops affiliated with Your University might take boarders. May I come in and speak to your house president?" Most students would just let the guy in and leave him alone, at which point he'd grab laptops, jewelry, any small valuables, and leave.

The one time I was home when this happened, I challenged him to show me his student ID and to tell me the name and phone number of the person who had sent him there. He got very belligerent and violent -- made me very happy I had only opened the door a small crack and was able to slam it shut on him.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Wow, creepy. Thanks for telling us about it. We've had a weird incident several weeks ago with an older guy just OPENING THE DOOR to our apartment (we were home, it was unlocked) and saying the landlord had sent him over. We were like "Um, the apartment isn't for rent" and told him maybe he was looking for one of the other apartments in the house, but it was totally weird. Probably he discerned that we're poor and not worth the trouble...

[kelmit.livejournal.com]

E, is that you? ...If you aren't E, then I guess this exact incident happened to our house too.

[numbersnletters.livejournal.com]

Crap, I guess I need a new secret LJ. :)

[evilbunnymayhem.livejournal.com]

I also remeber hearing something (not locally related) a long while back about a similar scam done by a sex offender.
REALLY scary... at worst I hope it was just theft he had in mind an no one fell for it.... but kudos to you for listening to yer instincts and thanks for the post!