Perhaps they were a highly sophisticated criminal cabal looking to challenge their burglary skills.

But the likely scenario is that the group of thieves who attempted — and failed — to rob a bungalow in a wealthy Toronto neighbourhood two months ago didn't know they'd chosen to hit the home of the head of a high tech security company.

As the Toronto Star reports, Joel Matlin, the president and CEO of AlarmForce Industries Inc., was on vacation in Florida last February when he received a phone message at 11 p.m.

Using AlarmForce's video technology, the message streamed live images of a strange man in a baseball cap at the front door of his Toronto home. The man stood outside the house and left shortly after.

When Matlin saw the suspicious-looking video, he told the Star that he immediately informed local police and asked them to be on alert in the neighbourhood.

Then he made a grave error — an error all the more surprising for someone in his field: Matlin turned his cell phone off for the night.

"Had I left my phone on, I would have been able to pick it up and answer my front door from where I was in Florida," he said. "But I didn't. That's the one stupid thing I did."

Though the house had a sign informing would-be burglars that the premises was protected by AlarmForce, the warning didn't appear to deter the suspect from returning along with a group of cohorts at 4:30 a.m.

And if Matlin's phone had been on, he would have seen the group of men, faces covered, ringing the doorbell of his house. The men appeared to be carrying a number of tools to aid them in their task, at least one of which was used to cut the phone and Internet lines inside.

That's when the localized security system kicked in. Matlin's 23-year-old stepson happened to be sleeping upstairs when he was jolted awake by a digital voice informing him that the phone line had been cut.

He ran downstairs when he heard someone trying to kick down the steel door and began shouting at whoever was on the other side. His threats caused the suspects to flee.

Though the investigation is ongoing, police said Tuesday that they had arrested three suspects who had already managed to land themselves in a Lindsay, Ont. jail on related offences. The men were charged with several offences in the Greater Toronto Area, including the attempted break-in at the Matlin residence.

While he was lucky the robbery was thwarted, Matlin told the paper his close call gave him a new appreciation for what burglary victims go through.

He also said people can't believe it when he tells them thieves tried to rob his home of all other homes — although he imagines that they probably hadn't done their research first.

"I don't think they knew," he concluded.