FBI Looking Into Dozens of Bomb Threats Across the Country, Believed to be Massive Hoax

Bomb threats have been made all across the country on Thursday, and police in several major cities have been responding. Fortunately there do not appear to be any actual bombs, and the FBI has issued a statement about the situation.

pic.twitter.com/poZg8nVkWg

— FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) December 13, 2018

The nature of the threat, which appears to have been an email sent to perhaps hundreds of addresses, is not fully explained, although some outlets have shared copies of an email that included a Bitcoin ransom, but law enforcement agencies at local, state, and the federal level seem to agree the wave of threats were part of a single, large incident.

Even so there were consequences, lost time and labor, and use of public resources. For example, in Charlotte, NC, police cited “dozens” of threats, and buildings were evacuated and locked down as police swarmed the center city. Newspaper offices in Raleigh, NC, were evacuated, a synagogue in San Francisco, a retirement facility in Connecticut.

UPDATE: @CMPD just confirmed investigators responded to 16 different bomb threats across the Charlotte area between 1:37pm and 3:53pm.

They did NOT find any suspicious packages or devices. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/JHMVY3LqjN

— DaShawn Brown (@DaShawnWSOC9) December 13, 2018

The NYPD investigated several locations receiving a threat, as did the police in Oklahoma City, Washington, D.C., and locations in Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Idaho, and Maryland. Even Toronto, Canada received threats.

There were other threats today not related to the hoax, it seems. Columbine High School, infamous site of the shooting, received a specific phoned in threat, not the email hoax, which police there investigated. That incident, too, was cleared without any evidence of an actual device.

This story is still developing, and the number of cities and individual business and government buildings affected has yet to be added up. No doubt, the price tag will make this more than a curiosity and instead a serious occurrence that will require thorough investigation.

Below, an image of the email some received.

[Featured image via screengrab]

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Follow Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) on Twitter

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