Stranger caught in the act while trying to unlock Sengkang resident's digital lock

A resident living in Rivervale Shores estate at Sengkang called the police after a stranger allegedly tried to unlock her digital lock.

The incident happened at night on Oct. 11, as reported by Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min).

In a Facebook post, the resident shared that when she opened the door from the inside, the man acted as if he was at the wrong house.

However, the resident was skeptical about whether the man had indeed gone to the wrong house.

The resident pointed out that there was no reason why he would try to unlock the lock on the wooden door first, instead of the lock on the metal gate.

The resident uploaded closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the man's reaction when the door was opened.

The footage showed that the bearded man, clad in a blue shirt, appeared shocked and took two steps back.

The resident reported the incident to the police, and they arrived later that night to take her statement, according to Shin Min.

Residents safety

Shin Min reported that after the incident, the police patrolled the area but failed to find the man in question.

According to Shin Min, residents of the area who were interviewed had reportedly never seen the man.

However, they still expressed worry over the occurrence.

A resident surnamed Lin (transliterated from Chinese) told Shin Min that he found out about the incident from a residents' group chat.

He said that although it didn't happen to him, he and his wife were still worried.

Another resident, surnamed Huang (transliterated from Chinese) said that he is not too worried as he had a digital lock and a CCTV installed.

Additionally, the residents have a group chat and look out for each other.

Huang added that in the past two days, he had seen police officers patrolling the estate, and felt that it should be quite safe.

The Shin Min reporter said around 40 per cent of households were using digital locks, but said most residents who were interviewed expressed confidence in their locks' security functions.

Lin explained some of these functions, saying that if someone entered the wrong code twice for the digital lock, it would be disabled for 10 minutes and the lock will send a notification to the owner's phone.

Lin also noted that his digital lock has cameras which will take a photo of anyone who attempts to open his door.

Other cases of strangers entering homes

Top photos from Shin Min and Google Maps