Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: kwflatbed

The Associated Press

NEWPORT, R.I. — A bomb threat that caused the evacuation of a Wal-Mart and led employees to wire $10,000 to the caller appears to be part of a broader scam targeting other businesses around the country, authorities said.
An unidentified man called the Newport store Tuesday morning, saying he had a bomb and would harm employees. He also demanded that workers transfer $10,000 to an account, said Newport Police Sgt. James Quinn. The store wired the money, Quinn said.
FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said the threat appears related to a plot in recent days targeting banks and stores near Phoenix, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia.
An anonymous caller made a bomb threat Tuesday against a Dillons grocery in Hutchinson, Kan., demanding that the store wire money to his bank account and ordering everyone in the store to disrobe. No one was injured and no money was paid, police said. On Wednesday, two other stores in Hutchinson also received bomb threats, said police Lt. Steven Nelson.
Authorities said the caller Tuesday appeared to have visual access to the grocery, although officials were investigating whether the caller was out of state and may have hacked into the store's security system.
"If they can access the Internet, they can get to anything," Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said. "Anyone in the whole world could have access, if that's what really happened."
The FBI was looking into whether the calls to the banks and stores were being placed from overseas and was compiling reports from local police departments to probe for similarities between the cases, Kolko said Wednesday.
"At this point, there's enough similarities that we think it's potentially one person or one group," Kolko said from Washington.
Police in Virginia said a similar threat was made at a store there on Tuesday. In that case, no money was sent and no bomb was found.
In Newport, the caller placed three separate calls to the store, Quinn said. An employee reported the bomb threat to police at 6:52 a.m., minutes before the store's scheduled opening.
Roughly 25 employees who were inside at the time were evacuated as a police SWAT team spent hours sweeping the building and bomb-sniffing dogs searched around cars in the parking lot. Neither the suspect nor any explosive device was found in the store, and no one was injured.
Quinn said police have identified the account where the money was wired, but he would not say where it was held. He said the caller used a land line from out of state, but would not say from where. No arrests have been made.
A similar call was made to a bank inside a Wal-Mart store in western Virginia late Tuesday morning, police said. An employee at a bank branch inside a Wal-Mart store in Salem was told that a bomb would explode unless an undisclosed amount of money was sent via Western Union. The store was evacuated and later reopened after no bombs were found, police said.
Another bomb threat was called in a few minutes later to a bank inside a store in Virginia's Pulaski County. That store was also evacuated and no bombs were found.
No arrests have been made in either of the Virginia incidents.
The store in Newport does not have a bank branch inside, but offers a money transfer service similar to Western Union, police said.

Wire Services

---

Posted by: Inspector

Maine State Police say a bomb threat at a supermarket Wednesday in Millinocket appears to be part of a national scam targeting banks and retailers

Steve McCausland of the Maine Public Safety Department says the state police tactical squad was called to the Hannaford supermarket after an employee arrived to find the doors locked and employees and customers sitting inside in a circle.

He says it turns out that there an extortion attempt in which a caller warned that a bomb would detonate unless money was wired to a bank account.

At 11:30 A.M., about 50 to 60 customers and employees were released from the store and the tactical squad was dismissed. The store remained closed, however, because state police planned to sweep the store with bomb-sniffing dogs as a precaution.

Hannaford employee Ivan Garay, who was inside the store during the incident, told NEWS CENTER an announcement was made around 10:00 A.M. for everyone to go to the front of the store. According to Garay, there were about 40 people inside the store and they were asked to sit down.

He says for the most part, the people inside were calm, but there were a couple of people who were upset. He says the manager told them that a bomb threat had been called in and the person on the phone said he could see the people in the front of the store.

According to Garay, the manager called the local police, who called for the State Police tactical team. When the team arrived, the people inside were escorted out of the building with their hands up. Garay went on to say that police took their cell phones and purses to search for any clues. Garay told us that everyone got out and nobody was hurt.

---

Posted by: Cinderella

Strip-Or-Get-Bombed Threat Spreads




PHOENIX -- A telephone caller making a bomb threat to a Hutchinson, Kan., grocery store kept more than 100 people hostage, demanding they disrobe and that the store wire money to his bank account.

Tuesday's incident may be part of a broader scam targeting other businesses around the country, the FBI said. Similar bomb threats are under investigation at more than 15 stores in at least 11 states -- all in the past week, authorities said.

FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said the threat appears to be related to a plot in recent days focusing on banks and stores in places like Detroit, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Philadelphia and Newport, R.I.
"At this point, there's enough similarities that we think it's potentially one person or one group," Kolko said.

Police in Kansas safely led the 46 employees and 64 customers, some of whom had taken off their clothes, out of a Dillons grocery store after about 90 minutes.

Authorities said the caller appeared to have visual access to the store, although officials were investigating whether the caller was out of state and may have hacked into the store's security system.

"If they can access the Internet, they can get to anything," Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said. "Anyone in the whole world could have access, if that's what really happened."

On Wednesday, two other stores in Hutchinson also received bomb threats, said police Lt. Steven Nelson.

In Arizona, a bomb threat led to the evacuation of a Prescott Safeway on Tuesday.

A caller with an accent demanded $2,850, according to police and city spokesman Kim Kapin.

"The maximum that Western Union can send through its service is $3,000," Kapin said. Wiring money also includes a $150 service charge, Kapin added. "This individual was obviously aware of that."

Initially, the caller led employees to believe he was observing them.

"After a while, it sounded like he was just taking a shot in the dark at what they might be doing, or what they looked like or how they were reacting to his call," Prescott police Lt. Ken Morley said.

Sherry Johnson, a spokeswoman for Englewood, Colo.-based Western Union, said the company was working with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service to trace the money sent through the service.

It was also telling its agents to be on the lookout for the extortion plot.

"This is an ongoing law enforcement investigation," Johnson said.

A bomb threat at a supermarket in Millinocket, Maine, on Wednesday was tied to the scam. Authorities there said a caller threatened to detonate a bomb inside the store unless money was wired to a bank account.

An unidentified man called a Newport Wal-Mart on Tuesday morning, saying he had a bomb and would harm employees. He also demanded that workers transfer $10,000 to an account, said Newport Police Sgt. James Quinn. The store wired the money, Quinn said.


http://www.kpho.com/news/13996055/detail.html

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser