A frightening video has emerged showing a child being followed home by a stranger, only to outwit him and escape.
WATCH: The chilling video of a young girl being followed home
The CCTV footage, shared on social media platform Reddit, shows a nine-year-old girl walking home alone in Moscow, Russia.
Rugged up against the harsh winter weather, the little girl approaches the front door to her apartment block.
A shady figure following a few metres behind the youngster can be seen moving quickly up the stairs behind her to catch the door before it closes, allowing him access to the building.
The footage cuts to the interior of the apartment building, where the girl is seen walking up the stairs and around the corner into the hallway.
The strange man – still keeping a small distance – follows behind the tot.
It’s at this point that the clever child thwarts whatever he has in mind.
Displaying some quick-thinking, the nine-year-old begins to turn down the hallway towards the lift, but instead turns and hides behind the letterboxes, out of sight as the man heads to the lift and presses the button.
The little girl quietly slips back down the stairs while the stranger’s back is turned, as he waits by the lift a moment, before moving to leave the building himself.
But what he didn’t realise was that the girl’s dad wasn’t far away – and she went straight to him to get her inside safely. As the stranger leaves, the CCTV captures him exiting the building and walking straight past the little girl and her dad – who called the police, Russia Today reports.
Social media users were full of praise for the girl and her quick-thinking actions.
“She was very smart to be dodging him as much as possible while keeping calm like that,” wrote one Reddit user.
“Smart girl that was thinking quickly and was really aware of her surroundings!” shared another.
The man was “reportedly a registered patient with mental health issues”, according to RT, and was detained by police.
“The police won’t launch a criminal case, though, with the girl’s parents informed that ‘there has been no crime committed.'”
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