It was a hoax that caused a scare in cities across the country, including Honolulu.

On Thursday, companies and institutions received bomb threats via email.

It also caused panic in cities like Seattle, San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C.

“The Honolulu Police Department has received several complaints in regards to businesses receiving bomb threats. The wording all appears similar and they all appear to be originating outside of the US,” explained Sergeant Chris Kim with the Honolulu Police Department.

The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, the state’s largest agricultural advocacy organization, was one of the handful of businesses in Honolulu which fell victim to the scam.

Executive Director Brian Miyamoto said an email appeared in his inbox around 8 am Hawaii time.

The email writes an “explosive device” is hidden in the building, and if the sender did not transfer 20 thousand dollars in Bitcoin money by the end of the work day, the bomb will detonate.

“It was threatening, so we did call the police. The police advised us they were sending officers down and advised us to vacate the building,” said Miyamoto.

He said the building evacuated while police swept the area for signs of a bomb. About an hour later, police gave the all-clear.

“You can’t tell what’s real these days, so many things happening, we just wanted to be careful,” he said.

Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center also received a similar email.

In a written statement, the hospital writes,

Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center was one of the many organizations nationwide that received the suspicious email bomb threat today. We immediately contacted authorities who opened an investigation and conducted a thorough inspection of our campus along with our risk management, facilities and security staff. Nothing suspicious was found and the email was determined not to be a credible threat. Patient care was not interrupted.

Authorities say the emails are a scam and are not credible. The senders behind the email have not been identified. Honolulu police urge companies to stay alert.

“We’re basically advising the public to not respond to the emails. if you did receive one go ahead and contact the police to file a report.”