Community Corner

Hidden Cash Supposedly, Well Hidden, Along L.A. County Beaches Today

Will you go look?

Originally posted at 8:47 a.m. May 31, 2014. Edited with new details.

Thirty-six plastic models of an angry red bird, each stuffed with hidden cash, have been buried on Los Angeles-area beaches today, according to the latest Tweet from the person sprinkling the Southland with hidden treasure.

The person using the @HiddenCash account on Twitter said he would reveal where the money was buried at 11 a.m., and posted a photo of plastic "Angry Bird" figurine, modeled on the electronic game, with a wad of money stuffed inside its cavity. That time was later pushed back to 11:30 with the uber-L.A. explanation that the tweeter was delayed by traffic.

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"Thirty-six of these, stuffed with cash, will be buried in the sand while you sleep," @HiddenCash promised Friday night.

He then taunted the Twitterscape further: "Preparing for tomorrow's EPIC scavenger hunt. Biggest in L.A. history. Who's coming to the beach? Money will be hidden all over!"

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At about 8:45 today, he or she posted additional enticing clues: "It will be kind of like an Easter egg hunt, except instead of eggs, they are birds, which I guess are eggs that have hatched."

The three-part Tweet promised "a few large bills" in each egg, and said the area for the hunt will be revealed at 11 a.m., later pushed back to 11:30.

"There will be no guesswork for the area, but then you need to find the birds WITIN that area," the Tweet stated.

"Be safe," it chirped.

One rumor centered attention on Mother's Beach at Marina Del Rey. "We've advised the troops what's going on, but we're not taking major precautions," said a watch sergeant at the nearby sheriff's station.

"We are prepared," said a watch supervisor at the Malibu-Lost Hills Sheriff's Station, as the summer "beach team" is already in place. But she said they had no indication the buried cash was in Malibu.

Police in Manhattan Beach reported no unusual mobs early in the morning.

At about 9:15 a.m., the mysterious benefactor tweeted this would be his penultimate act in Los Angeles:

"Today's beach hunt took a lot of time money and work to set up," it said. "It will be today's only event.

"More drops tomorrow, then bye bye L.A. :(" it said.

The Hiddencash phenomena started in San Francisco and moved to the Southland Thursday, vexing police but delighting the public. Hundreds, possibly thousands of people converged on the Empire Center in Burbank after the man left hints on the social media site directing people to the area.

Greenbacks have also been found in Pasadena and other parts of the Los Angeles area.

@HiddenCash told radio station KNX-AM (1070) that he shares concerns about public safety, but police are nonetheless worried that some people might go overboard and endanger themselves and others while making a dash for the cash.

The Los Angeles Police Department is monitoring social media to keep a handle on potential problems and where they might arise, said Officer Drake Madison of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.

"All of our divisions are aware of the potential that a mass influx of people can raise safety issues," he said, citing problems such as people walking in the street, running into traffic or driving too fast as they try to reach an area where @HiddenCash has directed them via Twitter clues.

The cash amounts have ranged from tens to hundreds of dollars.

Madison said the man behind it all wasn't doing anything illegal and so far it has been all fun, but that could change in an instant.

For that reason, police were asking the public to "take a little bit of a common-sense approach" and not get carried away, he said.

"Safety should not be compromised (for the sake of) a few hundred bucks," Madison said. "We're trying to get them to understand that common sense part of it."

--City News Service


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