What is Swatting?

Swatting is using information gathered about the victim to make a  fake police call claiming something bad is happening at the victim’s location.  The FBI took to X–formerly Twitter, to warn victims about this growing issue.  Anyone can be a target, but the FBI went deeper into  the details of those being targeted more often, and they included: LGBTQ youth, racial minorities, and those victims who are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Teenagers may think it’s funny to swat a friend without realizing the consequences it has on the victim. 

Children/ teenagers know more about the internet than we do and may feel comfortable about releasing personal information about themselves, making themselves  a target.

Swatting is a criminal harassment act of deceiving an emergency service via means  as  hoaxing and emergency services dispatcher, into sending police or 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 a false report  of a mental health emergency, such as reporting that a person is allegedly suicidal or homicidal, and may or may not be armed.  Now swatting can be punishable by jail time.