Whopper mistake: Prankster tricks Burger King staff into smashing windows (VIDEO)

Staff at a Burger King restaurant in Minnesota were duped into smashing the windows after a prankster told them it would prevent the building from exploding.

Police in Coon Rapids say staff at the restaurant received the call on Friday night from someone claiming to be from the local fire department. The caller ‘explained’ that the restaurant was pressurized and unless the windows were smashed, the whole building would explode.

Staff, taking the mystery caller at his word, unwittingly vandalized the building, breaking numerous windows.

Some passers-by noticed the rather odd spectacle and filmed it on their phones.

"The manager explained they’d received a phone call from a male who identified himself as a fireman who said there were dangerous levels of gas in the building and they had to break out all the windows to keep the building from blowing up," Sergeant Rick Boone told the Star Tribune.

"The manager was frantic and actually believed the building was going to blow," added Boone.

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Although one staff member suffered a minor cut when smashing the windows, no other injuries have been reported.

Police have launched an investigation into who may have placed the call, reports KSTP.

This isn’t the first time Burger King staff have been prompted to smash windows or risk an explosion, with the same prank being pulled at least twice already in 2016.

In Oklahoma, staff were told by an anonymous caller on Friday that the building had high levels of carbon monoxide and the windows needed to be smashed.

The staff duly obeyed the orders, causing $10,000 worth of damage in the process, reported KFOR.

In February, one of the fast food chain’s restaurants in California received a similar call, this time saying there was a gas leak.

Believing the call to be genuine, employees smashed the windows while the on-duty manager even rammed his car into the building, in the hope it would somehow improve the situation, according to KSBY.

There was an estimated $35,000 worth of damage done to the building following the prank call.