A wave of bomb threats emailed to businesses, universities and newspapers across the country and in Canada Thursday prompted evacuations and searches, but appeared to be a hoax and a crude extortion attempt, according to news reports.
The Associated Press reported that law enforcement agencies have dismissed the threats and said they were meant to disrupt and extort recipients, and that they "were not credible."
“We are currently monitoring multiple bomb threats that have been sent electronically to various locations throughout the city,” the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism unit tweeted . “These threats are also being reported to other locations nationwide and are not considered credible at this time.”
— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) December 13, 2018
Original story: There have been multiple reports of emailed bomb threats to businesses, universities and newspapers across the country.
Search “bomb threat” in twitter and you see they are happening all over the country including the metro Atlanta area. @wsbtv
— Craig Lucie (@CraigLucie) December 13, 2018
The FBI is investigating, saying it is in contact with law enforcement to provide assistance and reminding citizens to remain vigilant.
I got this email from the FBI: “We are aware of the recent bomb threats made in cities around the country, and we remain in touch with our law enforcement partners to provide assistance....we encourage the public to remain vigilant and to promptly report suspicious activities..."
— Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) December 13, 2018
Police in New York City, among other law enforcement departments, confirm that there have been several threats made across the country, and so far, no credible threats have been found.
We are currently monitoring multiple bomb threats that have been sent electronically to various locations throughout the city.
— NYPDCounterterrorism (@NYPDCT) December 13, 2018
These threats are also being reported to other locations nationwide & are NOT considered credible at this time. pic.twitter.com/GowGG4oZ9l
We're working a number of bomb threat calls in OKC. There have been similar threats called into several locations around the country. No credible threat found at this point. We encourage the public to continue to be vigilant and call with anything suspicious.
— Oklahoma City Police (@OKCPD) December 13, 2018
#BREAKING @OKCPD is responding to the bomb threat a Wiley Post Airport. This is one of 13 bomb threats working in the OKC metro. The emails went out to various places across the country. Details developing. @kfor
— Patrick Spencer (@made4tv) December 13, 2018
Some of the threats have already been determined to be hoaxes, KSL and other media outlets reported.
DEVELOPING: Bomb threats in Park City and at Dixie State University. Police determined threat in Park City was a hoax, according to the @Parkrecord.
— KSL (@KSLcom) December 13, 2018
More info to come. https://t.co/C0WdiQSu9h
UW Alert Seattle: Email threat (concluded) :: UWPD continues to investigate email threat, but there is no safety concern. More: https://t.co/ycyGn0x4OM
— UW Alert (@uwalert) December 13, 2018
Sent at 11:14:36 AM Thu
Police say the office received a bomb threat, but the threat which demanded money, appears to be a hoax.
— Jessica De Leon (@JDeleon1012) December 13, 2018
KCRG in Iowa reported the threats were a spam email that tried to scam receivers out of money.
It appears series of #bombthreats popping up around the country are simply automated spam: https://t.co/fwOsQ0E5fz #bombthreat pic.twitter.com/ziorK0huBh
— Jason Fechner (@jasonfechner) December 13, 2018
In other locations, officials continued to investigate, and evacuated businesses out of an abundance of caution.
Updating our friends who are asking: We have evacuated the @newsobserver building due to a bomb threat. We have no information that this is credible but of course we’re taking every precaution. We’ll have more official info soon.
— Jane Elizabeth (@JaneEliz) December 13, 2018
BREAKING: Authorities are looking into reports of a bomb threat at Niagara University. https://t.co/jrCQINM67A
— News 4, WIVB-TV (@news4buffalo) December 13, 2018
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