Pranksters prompted a police investigation Monday when a cleaner emptying trash in a municipal parking garage in Manhattan was fooled into thinking he had found a bag of bloodied body parts, police said.

The worker was cleaning out the garbage can around 11:50 a.m at the garage near 23rd Street and FDR Drive in Kips Bay when he discovered a bag with what looked like blood on it. He opened the bag to find what he thought were pieces of a human hand — including fingers — inside.

Investigators and the medical examiner responded to the scene, where they soon realized the fingers and blood were fake.