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Recently, Ubisoft Montreal saw local authorities sweeping its building for threats as a fake hostage situation was called in.
The act of ‘swatting’ has been around for quite some time. It involves placing a hoax emergency call to draw a strong police response to an address. And this might have been the first time an entire office was ‘swatted.’
A fake call had been made to the SPVM, the Montreal Police department, after which it was believed that many Ubisoft employees were being held hostage in the building.
Montreal Police responded by having several ambulances on standby, with heavy police presence reported. The authorities then swept the building but found nothing, later tweeting that no threat was identified.
Ubisoft Montreal gets swatted with a fake ‘hostage situation’
The incident was reported earlier today, when Montreal PD posted the following on Twitter. As seen, the building was evacuated after authorities failed to find a ‘threat.’
It was also reported that the police believed at least 50 Ubisoft employees had been held hostage on the roof, keeping several ambulances on standby. It turned out that the police had either asked the employees to leave the building or stay on the roof.
Eventually, the situation was defused, as Montreal Police ended up posting a statement explaining exactly what had happened.
Following the fake call, Montreal Police deployed a large number of resources to the Saint-Laurent Boulevard office building. However, once the perimeter was secured and the necessary checks made, it became clear that the threat had been a hoax.
The police also promised that a proper investigation would be conducted to determine who was behind the fake threat.
With the situation turning out to be a hoax, Ubisoft posted the following on Twitter to congratulate its employees for showing a sense of calm and composure when caught in a difficult situation.
The tweet was also aimed at Montreal Police, who responded quickly and brought the situation under control within hours. Of course, ‘swatting’ in itself is highly problematic and has led to some terrible situations in the past.
