Swatting

Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police and emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or other alleged incident.

Overview

The term is derived from the law enforcement unit "SWAT" (Special Weapons and Tactics), a specialized type of police unit in the United States carrying military-style equipment such as door breaching weapons, submachine guns, automatic rifles, and tear gas. The goal of swatting is usually to terrify victims, waste police time, or to cause an evacuation of a building. In addition, the large law enforcement presence may result in long-lasting disruptions to the affected community.

Legal consequences

Swatting carries heavy legal penalties in many jurisdictions. In the United States, swatters face a variety of charges, including conspiracy to retaliate against a witness, victim, or informant; conspiracy to commit access device fraud; making interstate threats; and unauthorized access to a protected computer.

Notable incidents

There have been several high-profile swatting incidents, often involving celebrities or popular online streamers. In some cases, these incidents have resulted in injury or even death.

See also

• Bomb threat
• Hostage
• SWAT
• Law enforcement in the United States

References

Swatting Resources
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