So I was in my apartment with my partner, laying on my bed, when suddenly I hear rustling and fidgeting around the door. I’m weirded out at first, but then remember it could be the gas company getting my receipt ready so I ignore it.
But suddenly, I hear a camera sound come from _inside my apartment by the door_. I get up and check my monitor to see who’s at the door, and I see a somewhat cleaned up Japanese guy wearing a white polo shirt and glasses. I assumed maybe he was here on official business, but already being uncomfortable with the fact that he somehow took a photo of the inside of my house (maybe through my mail slot), I wasn’t about to swing my door open for the stranger.
After letting some seconds pass for him to get out of my doorway, I try and peek from my balcony to see if there’s cars parked out front. I see a grey Volkswagen sedan parked along the curb and I notice this guy is walking back to the car from the gravel area beneath my column of balconies. I took a photo of the car but it was useless for identifying the guy, and I didn’t want to leave my apartment to take better photos since I didn’t want to make my presence known to someone who didn’t even knock on my door to see if I was home.
Now, I am moving back to the US in mid-June, so I could only expect someone to show up for matters related to my lease or utilities or possibly even any loose ends I forgot to tie up in my two years here. My partner thinks maybe it’s just official business, but even she has trouble accepting the fact that the guy didn’t knock AND managed to take a photo of the inside of my apartment from the doorway.
I’m genuinely creeped out. Is this something normal, or is the act of someone taking a photo through my mail slot a dead giveaway that whoever was at my door is NOT someone with an honest job to do?
I’m ready to take this to the police but I want to clear any doubt that this could somehow be brushed off as a misunderstanding on my part. I’d hate for this to be a legit issue that gets brushed off as “probably the NHK”
UPDATE: I mentioned this incident to my guarantor company while I was checking in on my move-out application this morning, and they told me that the person I saw was an employee of a company they hired to verify my address and confirm that I was still in the apartment. They don’t have an explanation yet as to what this guy in particular thought he was supposed to be doing, but they did apologize about the scare and the agent seemed just as confused and bothered about the event as I was.
The idea for the third party’s job is that they have to make sure I didn’t just move out prematurely or tried to sneak in some kind of sublet. In the agent’s words, the way this guy did the job doesn’t align with how it’s typically done, and they’re gonna get back to me on what the guy’s process was and what the photo he took at my door was of.
TL;DR It was some weirdo from a third party company hired by my guarantor. Still waiting to hear back from them on why the hell the guy was snooping so hard to try to look at my balcony and take a single photo of my apartment through the mail slot though.
by Mistfire333