In the Vancouver case, a VoIP Service on the home’s computer was apparently hacked, enabling the hoax, which claimed that a deranged man was holding hostages and had killed several people in the home.

A woman and her two children were arrested at the home but then quickly released when police determined that the call was a hoax.

The hoax highlights a weakness in the recently imposed requirement that people provide a physical address for 911 purposes when they sign-up for VoIP Service, according to an internet security expert the newspaper interviewed.

The expert noted that a 911 call generated on a VoIP service account could be made anywhere in the world, but would look as though it were coming from the physical address listed on the service’s account information.