Phony Bomb Threat Made to Snellville Kmart

Last Thursday (Sept. 12), the Kmart in Snellville received a phony bomb threat call in order to get money, something that occurred at 10 retail outlet stores in Savannah that same day, according to media outlets. 

This scheme is something that's been occurring at retail stores across the U.S. for months to try to obtain funds through an untraceable source, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports. 

That untraceable source is in the form of a prepaid card, specifically Green Dot MoneyPak cards, which aren't associated with a bank, the FBI told the AJC. The suspects would call stores that sell these cards and threaten to use explosives or do harm if they didn't receive cards filled with funds. The victims then would read the card numbers to the suspects over the phone.  

In the Snellville situation, the caller said he would blow up the store if he didn't receive $8,000 on disposable cash cards. 

Snellville Police Lt. Ray Gunter told the AJC that they realized there was no bomb after doing a 40-minute sweep of the Wisteria Drive store. During the store's two-hour phone conversation with suspect, police were able to determine that he was using an Internet phone number that originated overseas. It was also obvious that he had never been to the store or the area, so police called off the hoax.