Is anyone "helping" you during this event?

Whenever I find the robbers in my town I make note of who it was and return the favor quickly (assuming since I am in the game every few hours that if I see the robbers the person who dropped them might still be in their game). This usually results in getting the message that the neighbor helped me. Otherwise, if robbers are dropped randomly into neighbor’s towns, I get the message that no one helped me. Also, I know that a couple of my neighbors are active at certain times during the day, so I drop robbers during those times with generally good results. But, as usual, your mileage may vary.