Suspicious object causes security scare in CV

A suspicious-looking device that someone left in a Carmel Valley parking lot today prompted a brief security scare but turned out to be part of an Internet “treasure hunt,’' authorities reported Monday.

A guard found the object taped between two signs in the 11000 block El Camino Real about 11:15 a.m., according to police and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

A city bomb squad investigated and soon determined the innocuous origin

of the device, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said.

Emergency crews cleared the scene and reopened the lot about 12:30 p.m., Luque said.