A break-in at an Upper East Side apartment was recorded as it happened, with two clueless burglars caught on camera — and their images sent via phone app right to the victim while he was at work, sources said.
Danny Wheeler, 30, says that at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, he got an alert on his device saying there was a problem at his home at Second Avenue and East 81st Street.
He popped open the app, called Canary, and was shocked to see a video of a burglar coming through his window and rummaging around through his house.
“I was at work about to get on a conference call, when out of nowhere, my phone gave me an alert,” he said.
“I opened it up and saw the actual screen shot that had an actual guy on it.”
He immediately contacted 911 and was able to give a detailed description of the burglars. He rushed home.
“I was making my way [home] watching the entire video like a madman in the cab,” he said.
The two robbers can be seen scouring Wheeler’s apartment for nearly two minutes before both fled. They are still at large.
Despite the high-tech monitor that Wheeler was using, the burglars were driven off by a more old-school safety measure — a vigilant neighbor.
“I looked up and saw someone on the fire escape and I shouted ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ ” said Seamus McDaid, 42, who works at a comedy club downstairs.
“They got scared once I shouted, and they left after that.”
The duo retreated back through the window and fled with about $500 worth of bracelets, Wheeler said.
Still, he took a measure of comfort in having caught the men in he act.
“Without having the ability to see what happened, I would have just come home to a broken-in apartment,” he said. I would have gone nuts,” he said.
He elieves the video also helps the officers who responded to the report of a burglary.
“Being able to show them something right away was really helpful,” said Wheeler, who added that officers told him that they had seen one of the burglars before in other thefts..
Canary allows users to view video footage directly on their phones and sends alerts when it detects suspicious activity.
Wheeler said he got the device because a friend works for the company.