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posted by LaminatorX on Tuesday September 16 2014, @09:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept.

Phys.org reported on recent hoaxes where gamers seeking retaliation against an opponent make a fake emergency call to get a SWAT team sent over.

Authorities are increasingly concerned about a hoax in which video game players lash out at online opponents by making fake 911 calls that send SWAT teams to their homes.

The practice, known as "swatting," originally targeted celebrities. Experts say it's now becoming more popular with gamers seeking retaliation. It offers anonymity and a way to watch the hoax unfold live over game-streaming systems.

Related Stories

Next Generation 911 Could Lead to Next Generation "Swatting" 31 comments

Big Tech Improvements To 911 System Raises The Risk Of More 'Swatting'

Now some big changes for 911 are in the works, new technology that's raised concerns about what it means for swatting. The current system — devised 50 years ago — hasn't seen much change over the years and is limited. People typically verbally describe emergencies on the phone. The new system, called Next Generation or NG 911, is based on the Internet instead of telephone technology. The change will allow people to send information to emergency call centers as if they are posting to social media.

"It gives us the ability to access 911 using the same voice, video, text and data applications that we're all used to using on smartphones today," says Trey Fogerty of NENA. This is a big deal because a picture of an accident scene might definitely help emergency crews responding to that crisis. A text to the new 911 might also be useful during a home invasion or domestic violence situations.

But, the changes could also go awry. "You could conceivably have a video that is fabricated and is sent into a 911 dispatch center that appears to be one thing when in fact it is something quite different," says Chuck Wexler, the head of the Police Executive Research Forum. In Virginia, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler says they've worked hard to train dispatchers and police to prevent getting duped by swatting calls and he's concerned the new system could bring more problems. "Unfortunately, there's evil people out there that continue to do this and the more we embrace that technology the more risk we have," he says.

So spotting any red flags will be crucial. Police chiefs say dispatchers will have to become adept at quickly analyzing text and video. Designers are devising a way to mark suspicious video and text messages plus working to create a trustworthy alternative to today's caller ID, according to Fogerty.

Related: Gamers Use Police Hoax to Lash Out at Opponents
Swatter Just Prankster?
Swatted: Police Kill Innocent Man in Kansas


Original Submission

Swatter Who Caused a Death in Kansas Likely Faces at Least 20 Years in Prison 54 comments

Prosecutors seek 25 years in prison for deadly Kansas hoax

Federal prosecutors are seeking a 25-year prison sentence for a California man who made a hoax call that led police to fatally shoot a Kansas man following a dispute between online gamers.

[...] Barriss faces sentencing Friday in federal court in Wichita for making the false report resulting in a death. He has pleaded guilty to 51 charges related to fake calls and threats across the country.

The defense is seeking a 20-year prison sentence.

Sentencing is set for March 29.

2017 Wichita swatting.

Previously: Swatted: Police Kill Innocent Man in Kansas

Related: Gamers Use Police Hoax to Lash Out at Opponents
Swatter Just Prankster?


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday September 16 2014, @09:58PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 16 2014, @09:58PM (#94260)

    "increasingly concerned"

    How old is this? I remember this getting started and getting significant journalist coverage about a decade ago, maybe more, when a lot of cut rate VOIP providers started letting you put anything you want in your caller ID field.

    So sign up with "dumbo's VOIP service and oil change shack" using your VISA prepaid credit card or whatever, connect SIP via tor and send your "buddies" contact info as your caller ID info and call the buddies local cops and report dude with a gun or whatever, then a couple minutes later SWAT shows up guns drawn, maybe shoots him and/or his dog, things happen. Seriously.

    For bonus points you can call in a man with gun from the closest faked commercial account. Oh I see via google maps there is a gas station a block away, and this is their number, well, I can use that as caller ID.

    I would imagine prepaid non-contract cell phones work if you're in the same city as your "friend". So make the call about man with a gun on the porch of whatever address and literally burn the phone in a fire, untraceable. cheap, fast, easy.

    If there is any meta story, maybe this is all a plant by the incumbents to shut down small VOIP other than the big boys who purchased the news coverage or contract cell providers trying to shut down retail non-contract phone sellers.

    (I work in telecom and used to work at a place that did (among many other things) commercial voip, so we knew all about this kind of stuff)

    • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by _NSAKEY on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:13PM

      by _NSAKEY (16) on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:13PM (#94272)

      They don't even need VoIP, with the proliferation of Skype. Some of them even use AT&T's IM relay service and don't have to actually speak to anyone. The fact that this is being called "new" is just another example of media cluelessness.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:37PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:37PM (#94285)

        > The fact that this is being called "new" is just another example of media cluelessness.

        I checked the summary and the article. Neither the word "new" nor any of its synonyms is used in either.

        What I do see is a discussion of a shift in swatting demographics - that it used to be primarily about attacking famous people and now it is about plebes attacking plebes.

        • (Score: 2) by _NSAKEY on Tuesday September 16 2014, @11:22PM

          by _NSAKEY (16) on Tuesday September 16 2014, @11:22PM (#94303)
          I used "new" in quotes because I followed the tradition of the other site and didn't even click on the links. My excuse is that the line about celebrity swattings read like it came from an article I read a few days ago, which DID call swatting a "new" thing. The logic being that if I've read it once before, why would I read it again?
    • (Score: 2) by hamsterdan on Wednesday September 17 2014, @01:15AM

      by hamsterdan (2829) on Wednesday September 17 2014, @01:15AM (#94331)

      Why are they relying on Caller ID? Caller ID doesn't show the number that's calling, it shows what you tell it to show. (like corporate phone systems that always show the same number no matter what phone line you're calling from?)

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @01:52AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @01:52AM (#94341)

        > Why are they relying on Caller ID?

        They are not. 911 uses Automatic Number Identification (ANI), but you can spoof ANI with VOIP so they might as well be relying on caller-id.

    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:22PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:22PM (#94502) Journal

      Dialpad: the neverending source of crank call hilarity. Until it shut down its free VoIP service.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by arslan on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:37PM

    by arslan (3462) on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:37PM (#94286)

    So let me get this straight, the police at some point decided to go from friendly "protect and serve" to an aggressive "breakdown and serve" by default and is now sucking sour grapes that their new model doesn't seem to work well with prank calls?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:46PM (#94290)

      Now that they send out swat teams to catch under-age drinkers and arrest people for barbering without a license, [reason.com] literally anyone is fair game.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Tuesday September 16 2014, @11:01PM

        by hemocyanin (186) on Tuesday September 16 2014, @11:01PM (#94294) Journal

        Or poker home games.
        “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control [salon.com]

        Yeah -- the problem isn't the prank calls, they are a symptom of the problem and that problem is well symbolized by SWAT Teams, specifically, the problem is a militarized police force that has such great immunity from consequences, that it can get away any kind of murder it wants.

        And back to poker:

        that’s exactly what happened to seventy-two-year-old Aaron Awtry in 2010. Awtry was hosting a poker tournament in his Greenville, South Carolina, home when police began breaking down the door with a battering ram. Awtry had begun carrying a gun after being robbed. Thinking he was about to be robbed again, he fired through the door, wounding Deputy Matthew May in both arms. The other officers opened fire into the building. Miraculously, only Awtry was hit. As he fell back into a hallway, other players reporting him asking, “Why didn’t you tell me it was the cops?” The raid team claimed they knocked and announced several times before putting ram to door, but other players said they heard no knock or announcement. When Awtry recovered, he was charged with attempted murder. As part of an agreement, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. Police had broken up Awtry’s games in the past. But on those occasions, they had knocked and waited, he had let them in peacefully, and he’d been given a $100 fine.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:09PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:09PM (#94495)

          Having read the link, I have one thing to ask:

          What the hell is wrong with you people?

          Yeah, I know it's not all of you, but.. just... jesus... what I've read reminds me of the guys who join those fighting gyms, train in combat three to five nights a week and then go out looking for fights with black belts so they can fuck those martial artists over.

          If you watch Penn & Teller's Bullshit episode on martial arts, you'll see the sort of guys I mean.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:40PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:40PM (#94511)

          Why did he plead guilty. Five years, might as well be dead.

      • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:32PM

        by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday September 17 2014, @12:32PM (#94507) Journal

        I am not trying to defend the cops here but barber shops in many low income areas are either havens or fronts for drug activity.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @02:17PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @02:17PM (#94555)

          Innocent until proved guilty, remember?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @06:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 17 2014, @06:34PM (#94649)

          And so are pretty much every other establishment too. The problem is a lack of probable cause or even reasonable suspicion. They didn't even have warrants.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 16 2014, @10:49PM (#94291)

    The Clooney remake, that is