Maybe this is what caused the major cell phone outages Thursday.

According to a Wednesday post to a page appearing to be associated with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, residents were told to not be alarmed if they saw MCSO vehicles in their neighborhoods, tossing out pinecones.

The pinecones, the post indicated, are supposedly outfitted with wireless 5G mini spy cameras “to enhance our surveillance efforts.”

“This innovative technology, known as conecams, features 1080P HD resolution, two-way audio with night vision capabilities, operates on a 5G network, and is compatible with virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri,” according to the post.

The elaborate post included photos of one of the cameras, a schematic of how they work and a list of specifications — along with a photo of a box of pinecones and the sheriff’s office logo.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office group page has well over 27,000 followers and says it was created by Sheriff Tom Boatwright to “provide knowledge and awareness to the citizens of Monroe County.”

Most of those reacting to the “conecam” post took it as a hoax. Some thought the page had been hacked, while others thought it was a shrewd ploy to get residents to clean up their yards.

There were those, however, who appeared to take it seriously. The post had been shared over 100 times by Thursday afternoon.

One commenter asked how the use of pinecone-hidden surveillance was legal, receiving a response from another commenter that it would be covered under the Patriot Act. Another Facebook user suggested the sheriff’s office would be trespassing in order to distribute the conecams. Another said she needed more information.

AL.com tried calling the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office but no one answered, so it couldn’t be confirmed whether they were actually using the conecams, whether they were responsible for the post, or whether or not the Facebook page has any actual affiliation with the MCSO.

Just to be safe, though, some residents did some yard cleaning.

“No pinecones left in Monroeville today,” wrote one resident.