West Island resident warns of suspicious Vidotron technician

A woman in Dollard-des-Ormeaux is warning others on Montreal's West Island about a man who may be posing as a Vidotron technician, casing homes for future break-ins.

Lisa-Marie Fitzwilliam said she was home alone with her child Saturday when someone rang the doorbell claiming to be from Vidotron.

• Cable technician West Island resident found suspicious only doing his job

The man had no identification andno Vidotron-marked vehicle, and he was wearing a hard hat and orange vest.

He told her he needed access to the common garage she shares with a neighbour and to their electrical room.

However,Vidotron isn'tFitzwilliam'stelecommunicationsservice provider.

"The presentation was off. I felt it right away," she said, adding the man was peering around her, seemingly trying to get a look inside her home.

She asked the man who he was looking for. He replied that he wasn't looking for anyone or even a specific address.

Fitzwilliam offered to give him the number for the president of her condo association. She went inside, assuming he'd follow her. When he didn't, she went to see where he was.

He'd disappeared.

More potential victims

She called her husband, who informed her a neighbour had recently had a similar experience.

She then called Dollard-des-Ormeaux's public security service, as well asVidotron.

The representative she spoke to at the telecommunication companysaidthere were no service calls scheduled for her address, street orpostal code.

The Vidotron representative said technicians never show up without calling first.

Then she called 911, and the emergency servicedispatchedpolice officers to her house. They took a statement and thephoto she had taken of the man.

Police told her there had been a recent break-in in her neighbourhood,and it was possiblethe man she'd encountered hadbeen checkingout homes in the area to see who was home when, and whether the homewasworth robbing.

She said she hassince heard similar stories from two neighbours, and after posting what had happenedon a Facebook group, she's heard from a half dozen othersmostly in Dollard-des-Ormeauxand Pierrefondswho reported also beingtargeted.