JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There is a man going to homes in Julington Creek and Mandarin asking residents for personal information.
Several people in the area have said the man approached their home at least once in the last few weeks. He is professionally dressed with a badge and carrying an iPad.
What’s concerning to some residents is how the man is identifying himself. They say he seems to have a different story for different people. According to people who have been approached, he’s identified himself as a debt consolidator and a federal tax collector. He told one household he was following up on a survey they never received and claimed some residents owe money. Several people describe the man as being pushy and aggressive.
Neighbors didn’t realize how many others had been approached by the same man until seeing him on countless home surveillance images.
A woman who lives in Mandarin, who News4Jax isn’t naming, said the man came to her house in the middle of the day.
“We had a knock on the door around 4:45 Thursday afternoon and it was a guy saying he was a debt consolidator and asking if my husband had received a piece of paper saying “urgent” in the mail which he had not. I told him I check the mail every day and I did not receive that. He said that he would let the government know that we had not received our mail and that he would check back. He asked what kind of car my husband drove so he could watch and know that he was home to come back and check back. I told him several times that we were not interested and he said that he would be back to check up on us,” explained the woman.
One thing that stood out in all of the videos, was the way the man approached each household. After knocking, he walks about 20 feet away from the front door.
“I noticed in a lot of the videos he stands in a particular spot waiting for you to answer. I know this happened on my camera. It cuts off and it can’t record your conversation. I have him walking to my house and away from my house but not our whole five-minute conversation,” said the Mandarin woman.
News4Jax crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said he sees red flags in the man’s behavior.
“Well first off, you shouldn’t answer your door unless you are expecting someone. If you’ve got a video camera, you can monitor who is at your door," Jefferson said.
Jefferson says you never want to give out any personal details about who is home and when.
“It could be a vulnerability test to see if you are home, to see what your tendencies are, how long you were at home during the day,” said Jefferson.
Several neighbors tell News4Jax they plan on filing police reports and sharing their surveillance images with authorities.