# Yik Yak and threats



## USM C-2

I had been planning a quiet day catching up on paperwork, but then this happened... Took about 8 hours for the investigators to track this guy down, and I'm up early because we will run an enhanced detail in the building at least through the morning.

We found out this app has been used for similar threats at UGA and Alabama recently as well. It is a location-based bulletin board, where you don't have to sign up to post, just download the app. It shows you the other posts from like the 500 users closest to you, and they disappear fairly quickly. The company was cooperative, and provided enough info that we could make the case, though.

http://www.wdam.com/story/26595385/...ke-arrest-after-threatening-social-media-post

"HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) -The University of Southern Mississippi Police Department arrested Brandon Hardin, 20, in connection with a social media threat. Hardin, a business major from Carriere, Miss., is being charged with posting a computer threat to cause injury. Officials say this is a felony offense. Hardin allegedly made an anonymous post on the social media application, Yik Yak, that threatened members of the University community. The message posted read, "The red will flow tomorrow in JGH. I recommend missing class."...(snip)"


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## visible25

Yeah this app has become BIG around many campus's. People around my school call this "the anonymous twitter" because 'they can't track you' well guess what, they can. I believe our school is working to track someone who semi-threatened a professor. 
-I don't have the app because my phone OS doesn't support it (Still rocking the iOS 6 on my 4s) haha

But really, it's amazing how stupid some people are around here. There's also another app called 'whisper' that does something similar to this I think, but you need an account.

Stupid people play stupid games and get caught; bravo.


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## USM C-2

"The University of Southern Mississippi student charged with posting a threat on social media had a 3.7 grade-point average and comes from an excellent family, said his attorney, Glenn White, during a bond hearing Wednesday.

Bond was set at $40,000 for Brandon Hardin, 20, of Carriere, who was arrested Monday night and charged with posting a computer threat to cause injury, a felony offense. He is accused of having made an anonymous post on the social media application Yik Yak on Monday morning that threatened members of the university community at Joseph Greene Hall on Tuesday...."

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/.../24/usm-student-social-media-threat/16158825/


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## LGriffin

*Ludlow schools increased police presence result of Yik Yak posting*

Ludlow Public Schools Superintendent Todd H. Gazda said the Internet posting that prompted an increased police presence at all Ludlow schools, on Sept. 25, was made on Yik Yak, a controversial new app that does not have accounts, so there are no user names.

"The app allows for anonymous postings, and, my understanding is that they disappear after awhile, so that if you go on there now, you would not see what has been posted," Gazda said in a noon-time phone interview.

Gazda said it was a Ludlow student, who contacted Ludlow police, prior to the start of school, about the posting containing "threatening words." Gazda said the threat was not specific, but seemed more "toward the high school."
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/ludlow.html#incart_river

I'm glad to hear the company is cooperative. Quick resolution here


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## LGriffin

*HCC bomb scare caused by coded message over social media advertising drugs: state Fire Marshal*
The entire incident appeared to have been triggered by a student seeing a post about the college on Yik Yak an anonymous social media gossip site, and believing it was warning of a bomb, Mieth said. The student alerted authorities and the library was emptied out.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/hcc_bomb_scare_caused_by_coded.html#incart_river


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## USM C-2

Well, three days after the first one, we had another. This time it took search warrants for Yik Yak and then Twitter, but another one is in jail.

http://www.wdam.com/story/26687566/...ond-alleged-social-media-threat-to-usm-campus

"University of Southern Mississippi Police have arrested Velton Williams, of Hattiesburg, in connection with an alleged threat to the Hattiesburg campus posted last week on the social media application Yik Yak.

Williams, 20, has been charged with posting a computer threat to cause injury, a felony offense. He is currently being held in the Forrest County Jail. A student at Southern Miss, Williams has been placed on interim suspension indefinitely by the University.

"With the cooperation of Yik Yak and other investigative processes, we were able to pinpoint the identity of the poster and bring a resolution to this case," said University Police Chief Bob Hopkins. "I hope that this will serve as a reminder to anyone who posts comments on social media that nothing is anonymous...."


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