A woman named Olivia Mack, who goes by @oamack on TikTok, described how she was working from home one day when she almost opened the door to her apartment to a stranger who seemed to be trying to get in. In a video posted on July 23, she detailed the whole incident, and it got around 53,800 likes and hundreds of comments.
Mack said that at the time there was a knock at her apartment door. But since she saw a notification that a parcel would arrive soon, she at first thought the person at the door might be the delivery person.
But then, she heard someone typing on her keypad. As no one other than trusted maintenance workers had ever needed to use the keypad before, she thought it was one of them. But that's when she remembered she hadn't received any notification that maintenance was going to enter her apartment. Plus, she also heard the door handle going up and down, though the door had been secured with a deadbolt.
@oamack SAFETY FIRST ALWAYS!!!!! Just sharing this as a reminder ❤️ #breakin #safety #storytime
♬ original sound - Olivia Mack
When she came to the door, she was sure that there was something wrong, so rather than unlocking it at once, she looked through the peephole. Mack said she saw a bald man in front of the door who was wearing glasses and a flannel shirt. So she knocked on the door to see if he would identify himself, but as she noticed, he did not respond. At that point, she saw him putting his hands near the peephole before moving them downwards across the door. And that left what looked like claw marks, the woman said.
Mack became frightened and called her mother, neighbour, and boyfriend for assistance. Among them, it was her neighbour who gave her the maintenance worker's phone number for her apartment complex. Mack then got in touch with that person directly.
Maintenance workers arrived and said they would check the surrounding area. Mack replied that her boyfriend could leave work and come and pick her up. The workers later spotted the man elsewhere in the building.
When confronted, the man who was allegedly trying to break in spoke about kidnapping and killing children.
Police were also involved, Mack said, but added that she had no idea what happened to the man afterwards. So the woman warned the viewers that an unexpected visitor does not mean that there is an emergency that requires one to open their door. She said to trust one's instinct and to check with a peephole, a security camera, the building management or another reliable person before opening the door.
In many of the comments, people described their own experiences with unexpected visitors and advised that more people use security cameras, lock doors, and contact reliable neighbours. Many also criticized Mack for getting in touch with her family and neighbours before dialing 911.
Others, however, said that people often react differently in such terrifying situations, as panic can make it hard to think clearly.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this video, including the identity of the man involved or the outcome of the police involvement. The details above reflect the account shared on TikTok by @oamack.
