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Moscow Metro Wi-Fi Provider Requests Investigation Into Alleged Terror Threats

Police officers posted at subway stations have received complaints from metro passengers about the threatening messages, Russian media.

The company that provides free wireless Internet on the Moscow metro has asked law-enforcement agencies to look into users' complaints that they were being redirected to a page with threats of terror attacks in the Russian capital when trying to use the Wi-Fi service, the TASS news agency reported Tuesday.

Some subway passengers trying to connect to Maxima Telecom's wireless service were allegedly redirected to a page with threats by Islamic State — a terrorist organization banned in Russia — instead of the online provider's login page, a spokesperson for the company said, TASS reported.

Police officers posted at subway stations have received complaints from metro passengers about the threatening messages, Russian media.

However, Maxima Telecom has “not received a single complaint from users, representatives of the Moscow metro, or government agencies,” and its request for an investigation was prompted by media reports, the company spokesperson said, TASS reported.

Similar reports of online threats had circulated in the Russian media in the past, but none have been confirmed by investigators, the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

One in four passengers on the Moscow metro, or 4 million people daily, use the free Wi-Fi service, TASS reported.

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