Faulty fax, mistaken as threat, prompts evacuation of stores

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/31/faulty_fax_mistaken_as_
threat_prompts_evacuation_of_stores/

Faulty fax, mistaken as threat, prompts evacuation of stores
Package heightens fears
By John C. Drake, Globe Staff  |  May 31, 2007

ASHLAND -- In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that
paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall
yesterday in this small western suburb after employees at a Bank of America
branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.

Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which
turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank's corporate
office.

"The women at the bank should have handled it a little better," said Nick
Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had
lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. "She blew it all
out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it."

A day-care center with about 30 children and more than a dozen small
businesses in Ledgemere Plaza on Eliot Street were evacuated for about three
hours after bank branch managers received a fax with images of a crude timer
and a hand lighting a bomb, Ashland police Chief Scott Rohmer said. Bank
employees told police a suspicious package had arrived around the same time,
elevating their fears.

...

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