Hidden camera found in planter outside Upland home

Neighbors living in an Upland neighborhood are on edge after a camouflaged camera was found in a planter outside of a home on Saturday.

They say that the camera was discovered at around 12:30 p.m. when someone was cleaning their front yard. At first, it was thought to just be part of the gardening system until another neighbor was able to recognize it as a surveillance device.

Upland Police Department officers were called to the home and took the camera to further investigate, neighbors said.

Related: Hidden camera found in shrubbery outside suburban New York home. Officials say it's part of a nationwide trend.

The same neighbors say that in early August they were getting ready to go on vacation and had mailed more than a dozen checks in envelopes, but that they returned to find that all of the checks had been forged, totaling $13,000 from their accounts. All of they payments, which included insurance, had allegedly been intercepted and forged.

Neighbors say that there was no corrosion on the camera, so they believe it was intentionally placed to watch their coming and going throughout the day.

Police have not yet been available for comment on the matter.

This appears to be another incident in a growing trend across Southern California, as homeowners have found hidden cameras disguised as bushes, rocks and piles of leaves in places spanning from Alhambra and Agoura Hills to Chino Hills and Temecula .