False alarm

A false alarm is an alert that is caused in error. False alarms can happen because of a problem with a technical system (like a faulty fire alarm), or they occur because someone alerted the emergency services in error. Many countries have laws that make causing a no alarm with lousy intent (such as making hoax calls to the Police or Fire department) illegal. If there is no bad intent, there is also no punishment.

This short article can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.