As interest in the social media scavenger hunt known as HiddenCash grows, police say they’re monitoring social media to know where to expect crowds of would-be treasure hunters as some residents express safety concerns.
Driven by clues left on the Twitter account @HiddenCash, a growing number of Angelenos have descended on locations around the city in search of the envelopes of cash that are promised to the winners.
Crowds flocked to East Los Angeles Friday night in search of the money, climbing over bushes and up trees in Echo Park and Salazar Park. Envelopes were scattered around Pasadena and San Marino earlier Friday.
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Thursday night, several hundred people gathered at Burbank’s Empire Center, where three people located the winnings. Despite the large crows, which charged bus stops and trampled landscaping, police said things remained calm and no one was arrested - but warned that could change with the wrong element.
“When people get involved in this type of thing, they get really fired up, kind of a frenzied group looking for money,” a Burbank police spokesman said.
A person described as a successful real estate investor has been hiding money in different California cities and using the Twitter account@HiddenCash to provide followers with clues to find envelopes that have contained more than $200 inside, signed "With Love, @hiddencash."
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The clues have been drawing large crowds, and the person behind the account took to Twitter just after midnight Friday to address the purpose behind the hunt, and to implore people to be safe while hunting for cash.
In the message, the person behind @HiddenCash details how the project started and what contributed to the success of the movement, but advised followers to participate in the search with caution. The note also stated that @HiddenCash would "take time in the next several weeks to figure out how to best move forward in a way that keeps @hiddencash fun and safe."
The man behind @HiddenCash tweeted Friday that he planned to stay in the Los Angeles area through the weekend and said thousands of dollars would be scattered along the coast on Saturday morning.
