WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. investigators said they believe that an overseas scammer has extorted at least $13,000 with bomb threats to stores and banks across the United States.
Businesses have been hit in at least 12 states in just the last week, CNN reported. On Wednesday, shoppers and employees were forced to wait for three hours inside a supermarket in Millinocket, Maine, a small town north of Bangor.
Police Chief David Bolduc said that the caller who threatened the market seemed to know exactly what was going on as if “they're right in the building or right outside, almost like they have a visual." But a source told CNN that investigators have a suspect in Portugal who has been linked to an account used by the scammer.
The caller claimed to have a bomb planted in the building and says it will be detonated unless money is wired to a bank account. At one store in Kansas, the caller ordered everyone in the store to undress.
