What is Swatting?
Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic involving tricking emergency services into sending a large number of armed police or a SWAT team to another person’s address. Swatters will call law enforcement and report a false (usually violent) crime at the hands of or in the home of the target.
Though usually a prank, it can also be aimed at causing suffering or even harm for the target in the case of a swatting gone wrong. Swatting can be very dangerous for both the responding officers and the target - think about enforcement sneaking up to a home with no warning and breaking down the door. Any number of dangerous or life-threatening scenarios can, and do, occur.
What does “swatting” mean and how does it work?
Swatting is derived from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a term used for elite law enforcement units trained for high-risk operations. Swatting occurs when someone makes a hoax call to emergency service - often reporting a fake bomb threat, hostage situation, or shooting - prompting law enforcement to dispatch a heavily armed response team to an unsuspecting victim’s location.
Swatters attempt to remain anonymous when calling in a ‘tip’ using strategies like call spoofing or other identity-disguising software.
Who are common targets of swatting?
The most common targets of swatting are usually:
Online personalities such as streamers, gamers, or influencers
Celebrities and public figures
Private individuals caught in online disputes
Journalists and activists
Sometimes random people due to mistaken identity or address spoofing
How do swatters find victims?
Swatters use several techniques to find the physical location of the people they are targeting:
Doxxing: When someone is ‘doxxed’ it means their personal information (home address, phone number, etc. ) are posted online, typically for nefarious use. This allows swatters to know their physical location.
IP address tracking: swatters can use an IP address to identify a target’s physical location
Social engineering or phishing: we’ve all seen a phishing email. But using them for swatting is now an additional concern. If an unwitting target provides their address during a successful phishing attack, they may also be a target of swatting.
Leaked or publicly accessible data: similar to doxxing, this is only different in that it may not be posted for the specific goal of welcoming swatting attempts.
How can you protect yourself from swatting?
Here are some preventative steps to help protect you from being a swatting target:
Keep personal information private (don’t overshare on social media)
Use two-factor authentication and strong passwords to avoid people accessing your personal information
Sign up for anti-doxxing services (some offer protective records with law enforcement)
Alert local police if you believe you may be a target (some departments have opt-in “swatting flags”)
Use a VPN and anonymous online handles
What to do if you’ve been swatted
It’s important to remain as calm as possible during the actual swatting event. This will help to de-escalate the situation and allow you to explain that no crime has been committed and you are instead a victim of swatting.
After, you should file a report on the incident - to local law enforcement, the FBI or any other local units specifically tasked with tackling swatting reports. You can also report the incident to the platform the swatting stemmed from: suppose your address was leaked to a social media platform - you can report to that platform that a leak occurred and have them remove the information.
