The Washington Post: Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t the only politician to be a swatting target
UC cybersecurity expert: It is difficult to tell which 911 calls are real and which are fake
According to an article in The Washington Post, the number of swatting episodes went from about 400 in 2011 to more than 1,000 in 2019, with an estimated total of 20,000 over the past two decades.
“Swatting” is the act of calling law enforcement on an innocent person with a false claim of criminal activity.
University of Cincinnati security expert Gregory Winger told the publication that these fake calls take resources away from law enforcement assisting in true criminal activity and “weaponize” the police against the innocent victims.
The calls are usually placed from a cloaked phone number and relay that the criminal activity includes a life-threatening situation such as someone being held with a lethal weapon, thus requiring a high level of police response.
The victims of swatting are usually high-profile people such as celebrities and politicians. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been swatted almost a dozen times; the last time on Christmas Eve, 2023.
“People learn of those threats, and it spreads,” says Winger, an assistant professor at UC’s School of International and Public Affairs, adding that both real and fake calls are treated the same because, as yet, it’s very difficult to tell a real call from a fake call.
Featured image at top of SWAT team outside a threat location. Photo/iStock/Zeferli
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