When I Told the Real Estate Salesman, “We’re Not Interested in Our Home”

1. Overview

In September 2026, a Japanese X (formerly Twitter) user shared a video of a man who repeatedly rang their doorbell after being turned down for real estate sales, then pressed his face close to the camera. The video quickly attracted widespread attention.

The clip was only about 30 seconds long, but many viewers said the man’s distorted, almost-smiling face filling the intercom screen looked like a scene from a horror movie. The original post received more than 30 million views. When the poster later reported the incident to the police in the early hours of the following day, they added that the police already knew the man’s name. This led many to see him not as merely a pushy salesman, but as a genuinely dangerous person. The incident prompted discussion in Japan about the risks of door-to-door sales, and translated versions also spread through Korean online communities such as theqoo.

2. Video Released

The incident began on the evening of September 22, 2026, when a man claiming to be a real estate salesman came to the home of the poster, せら (@sera_syumiaka). According to the poster, the man asked, “Are you considering real estate for the future?” The poster refused, saying, “We’re not interested in our home, so please leave.” However, the man did not leave. He rang the intercom several more times, and the intercom’s recording captured what happened.

The poster uploaded the video at 7:35 p.m. that day (Japan time), writing only, “He rang the intercom several times, and this is what happened.” The man fills the screen, with his face almost touching the camera lens. The wide-angle lens makes his features look grotesquely distorted. Most responses said the video was unnerving even without knowing the context, and the post spread rapidly. “Real estate sales” reportedly even trended on Japanese X. In a follow-up post that night, the poster said they had initially listened to the man at the front door once before the events in the video took place.

3. Record of a Late-Night Visit in August

At around 2 a.m. on September 23, as the post was gaining attention, the poster said they had searched through the intercom’s recordings and found evidence that the same man had visited before. They uploaded another photo showing a face pressed close to the lens, with the timestamp “8/19 (Sat) 1:40.” The poster wrote, “This guy suddenly showed up at my place late at night on August 19 (Sat).”

The fact that the visit was at 1:40 a.m.—an unusual time for a sales call—made the story even more frightening. This naturally led to speculation that the man had targeted the home from the outset and visited it repeatedly, shifting reactions to the video from “scary salesman” to “possibly a stalker or someone preparing to commit a crime.” However, as discussed below under the authenticity debate, the date on this recording remains unexplained.

4. Police Report

At 2:33 a.m. that day, the poster shared a follow-up saying they had contacted the police. According to the poster, when they explained what had happened the previous day, the police said they had already received reports of similar incidents. After being shown the intercom footage and the man’s face, the police already knew the man’s name. The police reportedly told the poster to call 110 immediately if the man caused trouble again, and the poster wrote, “I’m glad I reported it.”

In a subsequent post, the poster relayed that an officer had said the man had not reached the point where he could be arrested, but that the police were keeping an eye on him as a person of concern. This suggests that the man’s behavior was not limited to the poster. Indeed, a reply to the original post said, “That person came to my house too. He wouldn’t show me his business card when I asked.” The user added that the company listed on the man’s name tag had no such employee, and claimed his name was probably fake. The poster later said they “couldn’t sleep at all” and had bought safety items such as pepper spray and a personal alarm.

5. Spread and Reactions

The post spread quickly through Japanese roundup blogs and online communities. By early October 2026, the original video had received about 32 million views and around 100,000 likes. Reactions broadly fell into two camps. Some focused on how frightening the video was, with many saying it was scarier than a horror movie. Others used the incident to highlight the dangers of door-to-door sales. The suggestion that someone might use sales as a pretext to scout a home’s layout or its occupants before committing a robbery drew considerable support.

The story later became known in Korea when a screenshot of the original post, translated into Korean, appeared on theqoo under the title “(Warning: Scary) After I told a real estate salesman, ‘We’re not interested in our home.’” It was accompanied by the summary, “Apparently, he was also caught doing this at 1 a.m. before, so they reported him to the police.”

6. Authenticity Debate

The main questions in this case are whether the video and follow-up posts document a real incident or were staged to attract attention, and whether the late-night visit recorded in August was really by the same man.

6.1. Evidence Supporting a Real Incident

Most notably, the original poster shared a series of consistent follow-up posts over several hours after releasing the video, which lends weight to the claim that the incident was real. The posts follow a chronological sequence, covering the conversation during the first visit, the review of the intercom recordings, and the police report and response. There are no contradictions between them. In response to suspicions that the video was staged, the poster directly denied it, saying, “It’s not fake” and “Are people who think this is staged stupid?”

A third party also offered corroborating testimony. Within hours of the first video being posted, someone replied that the same man had visited their home and refused to show a business card. The user added a specific detail: the company named on the man’s name tag had no employee matching him. This also aligns with the poster’s account that the police already knew the man’s name because they had received reports of similar incidents. Could people who do not know each other really fabricate stories that match up so closely?

6.2. Points of Uncertainty

However, the August recording leaves some questions unanswered. The date displayed on the intercom is “8/19 (Sat),” but August 19, 2026, was a Wednesday. The closest year in which August 19 fell on a Saturday was 2023. If the intercom’s clock was set incorrectly, that could explain the discrepancy; otherwise, the recording could be from three years earlier. Japanese roundup blogs also noted this, writing that “the year in which it was recorded cannot be determined.” In addition, the face in the August recording is blurry because of the lighting and image quality, so the claim that it is the same man as in the September video rests solely on the poster’s judgment.

The account of the police response also has the limitation of relying entirely on the poster’s statements. As of early October 2026, no official confirmation or news coverage of the incident by the police or media could be found, and the man’s employer and identity have not been revealed. This was also why some users suspected that the video was staged. However, no evidence has been presented to establish that it was staged either, so the facts remain unresolved.

7. Trivia

• Many replies offered advice on how to respond, citing Japanese law. Some pointed out that continuing to solicit business after being turned down or visiting late at night constitutes improper solicitation prohibited under the Act on Building Lots and Buildings Transaction Business. Others said that door-to-door salespeople who do not identify their company may be violating the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions. Some also advised that if someone refuses to leave after being told to, the police may be more likely to act on a trespassing complaint.
• Many people also shared similar experiences. One user described letting someone into their building after he claimed to be a fellow resident who had forgotten his key card, only for him to come all the way to the user’s front door and start pitching real estate.