Crime & Safety

Updated: Walgreens, Dave's, Gold's Gym Evacuated after Bomb Threat

Threat is part of an ongoing scam that has hit pharmacies nationwide.

A widespread national scam targeting pharmacies by using bomb threats caused East Greenwich Square on Division Road to be evacuated for about an hour this afternoon when a man with a Middle Eastern accent called Walgreens and said bombs were on the roof and the place would blow up unless they sent him money on a Green Dot card.

East Greenwich Police Sgt. Tyler Lufkin said the call came in around 2:20 p.m. and police, along with East Greenwich firefighters, State Police, the state Fire Marshal and the Bomb Squad responded to secure the area.

Using bomb sniffing dogs, they searched the store and adjacent stores as well as the roof before the all clear was issued at around 3:30 p.m., Lufkin said.

The bomb threat prompted evacuations at many businesses in the plaza, including Dave's Marketplace and Gold's Gym. People took to Twitter, reporting their workouts were interrupted and in one case, a young man lamented that his job interview "would just have to wait" in the plaza. Another woman said someone swiped her keys in the mad scramble to get out.

The incident is similar to a bomb threat that was phoned in to a Barrington Rite Aid yesterday during which a heavily-accented man called and said there were bombs on the roof and they'd blow up unless they provided the numbers to $500 money cards over the phone.

This type of incident has happened repeatedly across the country for months as scammers try to find new and inventive ways to trick people into sending them money through wire and money card services.

Though incidents like these will likely cause other pharmacies in Rhode Island to anticipate a similar call, police say every call should be treated with urgency and police should be contacted immediately.

"You have to take this very seriously," Lufkin said. "You never know. You can't take the chance. You've got to be 100 percent sure."

East Greenwich detectives are investigating along with the State Police.

Though the "bomb on the roof" scare hasn't come to East Greenwich until now, police here are very familiar with scams. Each week, police field multiple reports of identity theft and credit card fraud. During tax season in particular, more than a dozen East Greenwich residents reported someone had already filed a tax return using their Social Security number.

Lufkin said it has to do with technology.

"All around it's getting worse and worse," he said. 


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