Back in February prank callers preyed on fast food restaurants like Jack in the Box, Burger King, and Wendy’s, instructing workers to break every window and door or face certain disaster. The prank hit again in Minnesota over the weekend, when employees of a Burger King smashed the store’s windows, following directions from what they thought was a fire department official. 

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that employees answered what they described as a frantic call from a local fire department official who said there was a gas leak in the restaurant.

The purported official reportedly told employees that the gas could buildup, leading to an explosion, unless they smashed all the windows at the restaurant.

That’s when a manager and Burger King employees evacuated the restaurant and then started smashing every ground floor window.

Shortly after the unscheduled demolition began, police responded to the restaurant.

“Officers arrived and found that the manager and employees of the Burger King were smashing out the windows,” a police official tells the Star Tribune. “The manager explained they’d received a phone call from a male who identified himself as a fireman who said there were dangerous levels of gas in the building and they had to break out all the windows to keep the building from blowing up.”

The manager was “frantic and actually believed the building was going to blow,” authorities said, noting that they explained there was no emergency and the call was a hoax.

One employee suffered a minor cut during the window-smashing, police said, no one else was injured.

While there is not yet an estimate on how much the damage costs or any leads on who placed the call, local police and sheriff’s departments say they are investigating.

Authorities reminded fast food, and other employees at business with windows in a statement that they “WOULD NEVER call a residence or business to ask them to take action of any kind.”

“Calls for service come into the 911 dispatch system from someone calling to report a problem, and only then do police, fire and emergency responders respond,” the department said. “In the event you receive a call from someone claiming to be from a police or fire agency asking you to take some kind of action, consider it a prank and call 911 immediately.”

Prank caller leads Coon Rapids Burger King employees to smash their windows [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.