The Cochrane RCMP were among police responders during a widespread bomb threat that hit multiple businesses across North America and around the world last week . However, the threat turned out to be an elaborate hoax. On Dec. 13, multiple businesses received threats that a bomb had been planted in their building accompanied by a demand for Bitcoins. The letter sender threatened to detonate the device if the demands were not met. The police confirmed that the threats were related to the global email chain, even though they were sent from various email addresses. Sgt. Tom Kalis said the detachment received seven to eight complaints of the threatening emails. Kalis said by the time the emails were received at the detachment, the threats had already been debunked as a hoax by higher up authorities and no evacuations ensued. Before being declared a scam, the email set off responses from various levels of authorities across the planet including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the United States. In Calgary, police received at least 15 complaints before it was declared a hoax.
