A Calgary man says thieves stole more than just a trailer from a northeast industrial area last weekend; it was his life.

Hasib Anwari spent the past three years working to establish his mobile tire shop, Tire Express, building a loyal customer base. But in the span of only 15 minutes early Sunday, strangers stole it from an industrial area off Country Hills Boulevard N.E.

Then just hours later, another blow.

Scammers moved in, responding to his appeals in the community for information. Anwari was lured with the promise that the location of the $100,000 trailer would be revealed.

Anwari says he took that bait, handing over hundreds of dollars in gift cards to an unknown man only to be sent to a fake location in Crescent Heights.

Watch the video above to see more of the surveillance footage of the theft.

Security camera footage details the whole theft, which took around 15 minutes. The footage has now been handed over to the Calgary Police Service. (Dan McGarvey/CBC)

"The caller demanded $500 in PlayStation gift cards. I was told to drive to a 7-Eleven to meet him," said Anwari.

He added he did that knowing it was likely to be a scam but he was driven by desperation to be reunited with his trailer.

"I wasted hours trying to find the trailer, and unfortunately he was lying," Anwari said.

"It's painful because you're not just stealing a guy's equipment. You're stealing the method for how I was making a living," he said.

It's also the worst time of year for a tire business to take a hit, with spring around the corner and businesses like Anwari's heading into another profitable winter tire swap season.

Anwari said he was sending his customers to other companies and friends while he tries to re-establish his own business.

"Making sure my customers are taken care of is my No. 1 priority but it's a huge loss," he said.

This Tire Express trailer cost $100,000 to transform into a mobile tire shop providing tire swaps, storage, flat repairs and TPMS programming. (Hasib Anwari)

Anwari said it was the first time he had parked the trailer overnight in that location.

"Crime. It's as common now as the next guy getting a cup of coffee. My sister-in-law just got her car stolen. What we've seen this past year, we've never seen it before," said Anwari.

"Due to the economy, everyone's desperate," he said.

Anwari said he had insurance but it won't come close to covering his losses.

He says the only positive to emerge out of the experience is the response he's had from friends and customers.

"There's been amazing support from my community up in Evanston. They've always been good, they've been reaching out, sharing. So that's something that makes me really happy, the way people have reacted," said Anwari.

Calgary police said they were investigating the crime and had surveillance camera footage of the incident to work with.

Anyone with information can contact the Calgary Police Service or Crime Stoppers.

UPDATE added at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday: On Wednesday, hours after CBC Calgary posted this story, Anwari got some good news. Someone who saw the story had seen the trailer parked this week in Crossfield and realized it was stolen. Anwari told CBC Calgary that some of the tools were missing but it was in good shape. It's being towed back to Hasib's place in Calgary this afternoon. He's very happy.