Malformed spam-fax ignites bomb panic at Boston bank

OK. Because that whole Mike Figgis terror scare story was bogus, I feel like I owe you at least one true life internet terror funny. This one's better, too, 'cause it's Boston. Cue Keystone Kops music. Aaaaand, snip:

In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall yesterday in this small western suburb after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.

Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank's corporate office.

"The women at the bank should have handled it a little better," said Nick Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. "She blew it all out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it."

Previously on BoingBoing: