The US government has indicted two men for allegedly reporting almost 120 fake emergencies or crimes in the hope of provoking action by armed law enforcement agencies.
According to court documents [PDF], Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, called crisis intervention hotlines, alerted government agencies, or posted evidence of crimes online.
The indictment describes their activities as “Swattting” – a reference to the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams operated by some law enforcement agencies. SWAT teams are often heavily armed and frequently exercise deadly force.
In an announcement of the indictment, the Attorney’s office claimed that the duo’s targets included " members of Congress, cabinet-level executive branch officials, senior officials of federal law enforcement agencies, and state officials.”
Swatting has produced at least one fatality, meaning the accused’s actions could have resulted in harm to important people. The suspects also apparently made bomb threats against businesses, religious institutions, and a university.
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The indictment doesn’t name victims, but it’s a matter of record that the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, was swatted on December 30 – a day on which the indictment alleges the accused made were active.
"While my own experience was certainly harrowing, it was unfortunately not unique. In particular, several of our nation's election officials have also been targeted with this type of harassment and other threats of violence," Easterly said at the time.
"The men and women of both parties who run our elections work tirelessly to ensure their security and integrity. We at CISA, along with our partners, will continue to support these election heroes as they work every day to safeguard our most sacred democratic process," she added.
The pair are charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce, the Attorney's office says.
"Swatting is not a victimless prank - it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma," stated US Attorney Matthew Graves. "We will use every tool at our disposal to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable, no matter where they might be." ®