Austin residents say a shelter-in-place alert looked like a scam
More than 50,000 folks in South Austin obtained a shelter in place alert on Wednesday as a “dangerous and violent” individual with excellent warrants was at giant. But the alert did not look like others despatched by native companies up to now, and lots of residents assumed it was a scam textual content.
Chris Bataska bought the alert whereas he was at his workplace on Barton Springs Road.
“We’ve had a lot of phishing attempts at the company so my first thought was to email it to IT because it looked like a different link than normal,” he stated. “It just created some skepticism.”
Bataska stated it could have been useful if it was clear what legislation enforcement company despatched the message, and if it included a hyperlink with a trusted area, like “.gov.” The alert was written in all caps, and for some, got here with a hyperlink that stated “please click here to acknowledge receipt of this message.”
South Austin resident John Stolz stated he was “slightly confused and a little caught off guard” receiving the message.
“It seemed really spammy,” he stated. “It would have been better if it was more clear who [it] was coming from, and it would have been extremely good to know what neighborhoods are affected.”
Stolz stated he discovered people on reddit had comparable reactions.
Roughly half-hour after the alert was despatched, the Austin Police Department confirmed it was actual with a post on.
APD stated the suspect, described as a muscular Black man in his mid-30s carrying a white shirt and a white hat with a pink brim, was at a giant close to the St. Elmo neighborhood. They urged the general public to remain inside, lock the doorways, and name 911 if anybody noticed the suspect. The alert was despatched to 51,789 folks inside a one-mile radius of the intersection of Willow Springs Road and Industrial Boulevard.
About 10 minutes later, APD lifted the shelter in place order. On X, the division stated “after an extensive search it is believed the subject has fled the area.”
In a assertion, APD stated it had minor involvement within the incident because it was aiding the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI with the operation.
The FBI confirmed the suspect is now in custody.
