A high-tech prank strained the Thurston County, Washington, dispatch system last week, making it hard for dispatchers to answer urgent calls.
The tweet that started the trouble came at around 9:30 p.m. According to the Olympian newspaper, it contained a link that if clicked hijacked your cellphone, causing it to dial 911 again and again. Some had to shut off their phones to stop the dialing.
For about a half hour, Thurston County dispatchers got an average of one 911 call every 30 seconds. Most people hung up immediately, but each call had to be followed up on to make sure a real emergency wasn’t missed.
According to the Olympian, Lacey police were able to trace the hoax to 18-year-old Gavin Hasler, who claimed he got the link from a friend. Police said he tearfully confessed when he was arrested for "electronic data service interference," a felony.
Police said they tracked down Hasler thanks to his Twitter post. The original one with the link had been deleted, but The Olympian reported that the account had a photo of a man with brown hair, taking a mirror selfie. They found a Facebook account featuring the same photo, owned by Hasler.
But Washington isn't the only state that's been having problems with the 911 Twitter prank.
A 911 center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was inundated with calls recently.
One woman who opened the link had her phone call 911 repeatedly without touching the keypad, WSVN reported.
Others told WSVN said they would try to hang up, but the phone would call the emergency number over and over, some as many as 150 times.
Police are reminding cellphone users not to click on strange links that are sent to them.
About the Author
