A Toronto woman who thought her bike was stolen only to discover security guards from a nearby building had confiscated it has launched a social media campaign to warn other cyclists with missing bikes.

Had a bike stolen at Yonge/Bloor recently? Perhaps it was actually removed by Brookfield. Please RT! http://t.co/PRQLkWgo1B #bikeTO #rideTO

Ferguson claims her bike "disappeared" from a utility pole on the sidewalk outside the Hudson's Bay Centre at the corner of Yonge and Bloor. When she asked a security guard about scanning through surveillance footage, he informed her the building's parent company, Brookfield Office Properties, demands security staff cut the locks and take the bikes.

"Yeah, I cut some bikes in the last hour and a half," said the employee, according to Ferguson.

"Yeah, we get several angry cyclists in here a day."

Ferguson's original account of the incident has since garnered hundreds of retweets and more than 3,000 Facebook shares.

Despite the Toronto Transit Commission signage on the pole, CBC News reports Brookfield maintains the property is, in fact, private. A representative for the company also told the network they intend to “put up a sign warning cyclists not to park there.”

Kristyn Wong-Tam, city councillor for Toronto-Centre Rosedale, is conducting her own investigation about the legality of the guards' actions. She posted to her Twitter account: "WANTED: Info from folks who had bikes "stolen" from NE corner Yonge & Bloor. What happened, where & when."