Bomb Threat at CVS Was Unfounded

Just under two months after the Walgreens on Division Road was hit with a bomb threat connected to rampant scam attempts, the CVS on Main Street was similarly evacuated on July 31.

East Greenwich police said a bomb squad and search of the store turned up nothing, and staff at the CVS quickly evacuated the store after a call came in from a man with a Middle Eastern accent who claimed that someone placed a bomb in the store earlier that day.

Police were dispatched to the CVS, located at 507 Main Street, at around 2:45 p.m.

The manager reportedly told police that the caller threatened to “kill everyone in the store.” While on the phone, she wrote a note to a coworker to call 911.

The manager then hung up the phone and began telling everyone to evacuate.

When police arrived, everyone was outside along the outer edges of the parking lot.

Police made a quick canvass of the store and then called the Rhode Island State Police bomb squad, who used a bomb sniffing dog to help conclude that there was no threat.

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.

In this particular scam, the scammer threatens to detonate a bomb unless the store manager uses a money transfer service to send funds to an account.

The incidents have prompted pharmacy chains to warn store staff, but police say every call should be treated with urgency and police should be contacted immediately.

“You have to take this very seriously,” said East Greenwich Police Sgt. Tyler Lufkin said after the Walgreens incident in June. “You never know. You can’t take the chance. You’ve got to be 100 percent sure.”

Police in East Greenwich are very familiar with scams. Each week, police field multiple reports of identity theft and credit card fraud, among other scams. 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.