Springfield FBI warns hoax threats will be met with serious consequences

SPRINGFIELD ( 25News Now ) - Across the country, there has been an increase in shootings at schools and public areas over the past several years.

Education Week's website said there have been 29 school shootings this year alone. FBI agent Shannon Fontenot said this has led to an increase in hoax threats through social media. In the last six months. The FBI in Springfield has seen a rise in these threats coming from both within Illinois and out-of-state.

"Not only from residents or citizens from Illinois but throughout the country, we even see threats from outside the country. We have also seen an uptick in Illinois from Illinois juveniles," said Fontenot.

He said the majority of the threats they investigated came from teenagers. The threats are usually made through social media, text messages, phone calls, and other methods.

"They have a type of obscure, abstract picture of themselves. Or some a type of firearm or a weapon within the description either across or diagonally across something like I'm going to shoot up a specific school," said Fontenot.

The FBI has been notified about these threats in multiple ways.

"We are given a tip or somebody has reported a certain post or a publication that a certain individual has posted online. The FBI and local law enforcement will do their best to rapidly, and we quickly identify where that post came from," said Fontenot.

Fontenot said these threats are taken very seriously and can even lead up to prison time.

"According to U.S. criminal code section 75c, this becomes a spread of communication to a physical or harm or death in a public environment and that can go up to five years in prison," he said.

He also said those who see any threats on social media should notify the police. They can also submit information at the FBI's tip line .