The bomb threat issued at the North Bay Regional Health Centre may be part of a province-wide scam.
On Tuesday morning, North Bay police say they swept the hospital after multiple employees had received an email saying that there was a bomb in the building.
After a two hour search, which did not require the evacuation of the facility, police did not find anything that appeared suspicious.
Sgt. Jason Long of the North Bay Police Service says that the emails came from an unknown source that warranted officers to sweep the building.
Sgt. Long also confirms that the emails mentioned money and the detonation of a bomb.
Kerry Schmidt, Media Relations Officer for the OPP released a video to social media saying that businesses across the province received similar emails.
“Earlier today (Tuesday), businesses around the province began receiving emails indicating that there was an explosive device planted somewhere on their property and in order to remove the device, they would need to make payment via Bitcoin,” Schmidt said in a video on Twitter.
The video also states that every one of the threats which were investigated did not reveal any explosives.
“I’ve spoken to officers and members of the explosive unit and coordinator who tells me these kinds of complaints have come in the past and they all appear to be frivolous in nature.” Schmidt’s video states, also saying that the calls have been coming in on a regular basis.
Sgt. Long of the North Bay police did not confirm if the emails to the hospital requested Bitcoin or cryptocurrency.
Schmidt says that there is no threat to public safety because of the emails.
