Mass hoax bomb calls across Australia linked to overseas hacking group

A hacking group based outside Australia is believed to be responsible for mass threats sent to schools across the country.

Since Friday, schools in NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland have been receiving automated messages warning of a ‘bomb’ on school grounds.

Thousands of students have been evacuated with hundreds of police officers and paramedics tasked to investigate the threats.

The calls have continued today with evacuations in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

A Queensland Police spokesman said today's calls were believed to be of a similar pattern and nature to threats made over the last week

There is no indication that terrorist groups such as Islamic State are involved with the threats.

Police say the schools have been selected randomly and their locations reveal no patterns.

The messages contain no religious, political or ideological references.

Some of the hoax bomb phone calls that have caused chaos have reportedly been traced to an elite high school in Victoria.

Education sources told the Herald Sun that police had established that some of the calls made last Friday had been linked to Nossal High School, at Monash University’s Berwick campus.

However one theory is the possibility that those responsible are using an identification spoofing service to make it seem like the calls were made from the campus.

Police are reportedly checking whether the school’s telecommunications were compromised.

In one call, a male voice reportedly warned a receptionist at a Melbourne primary school: “You don’t have much time.”

Another claimed they received an automated message that there was a ‘bomb’ hidden in a backpack.

Parents have been forced to wait hours for answers, and to be reunited with their children at affected schools.

Wonthaggi Primary School, Reservoir High School and Aitken Creek Primary School in Victoria have been threatened more than once.

Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the calls played automated messages that were ‘consistent’ with those made on Friday.

E-Crime detectives are currently working with Australian Federal Police to investigate the international element of the threatening calls, as similar chaos had been reported abroad.

The voice of one caller had an American accent, but it was unclear where the calls originated or who was responsible for it.

Hoax calls have also been made to United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and Tokyo schools in the last two weeks.

A Russian Twitter Group known as ‘Evacuators 2K16’ claimed credit for a string of calls which shut down UK and French schools last week.

Commissioner Ashton said until the culprits were identified there was potential for the calls to happen again.

Victoria Police was unable to rule out some of the calls being made from Nossal.

They said they were treating the calls as a hoax, not linked to terrorism.