GPS Internet Scavenger Hunt Game Causes Bomb Scare Evacuation

Monday, September 13, 2010 1:23:35 PM by Angela Kaye Mason

Sep 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A Menards store located in a north suburb of Riverwood in Chicago was evacuated on Saturday night during a bomb scare after an online GPS scavenger hunt game led to the precaution.

At around 8:30 pm the Lake County Sheriff’s Department was called to the scene of a parking lot at the store to investigate reports of a suspicious package which was left at the 2700 Lake Cook Road location, according to police spokesman Sgt Tim Jonites.

A store employee had noticed a man putting a small package inside of the base of the light pole in the parking lot, and confronted the man. According to a Lake County Sheriff Lieutenant, the man made a comment to the employee that there were more packages in the area, and then drove off in an unidentified car.

This led to the Lake County Sheriff’s Department officers, bomb squad, and the Long Grove Fire Department being called to the scene for a suspected bomb threat. the Menards store and parking lot were evacuated, and no injuries occurred.

The box was discovered to have pieces of paper, and a geotag, which is used to help GPS systems track locations. The geotag was found to be a part of an Internet scavenger hunt called Geocaching, in which players use GPS systems to find these hidden tags and papers. They are then to sign and date the papers. the paper in this particular location dated back to January, according to the lieutenant. There are currently 3,971 hidden geotags in Chicago, according to the Geocaching website.