Gamer pulls ‘swatting’ prank on Long Island teen after losing round of ‘Call of Duty’

starlight777

starlight777

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Sep 12, 2013
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Gamer pulls ‘swatting’ prank on Long Island teen after losing round of ‘Call of Duty’
http://pix11.com/2014/04/22/cops-break-down-teens-door-after-suspected-swatting-hoax/#axzz2zhm3EIoQ

Read more at http://pix11.com/2014/04/22/cops-br...-suspected-swatting-hoax/#77LyjswLdTv5CijI.99



LONG BEACH, Long Island (PIX11) – The police response to this quiet Long Beach, Long Island neighborhood Tuesday afternoon was intense, instantaneous and for good reason.

The anonymous caller told the dispatcher he’d just murdered his family inside their home on Laurelton Avenue.

Maria Castillo was one of the reported victims.

But, she is very much alive and so was her 17-year old son, who was playing the popular online video game Call of Duty, when police kicked in the door looking for armed suspect.

A few moments later, more than sixty members of law enforcement began to realize they had been swatted.

swat
At least 60 members of law enforcement showed up to the scene after the swatting prank.

“Unfortunately this is a terrible, national problem for law enforcement. It’s called swatting, when people playing a video game, if they lose, they call the police and mimic the person that they lost to, and say that they killed family members and then they see how many people they can get to come down here,” said Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney.

Maria’s son won a round of Call of Duty and the sore loser he played, who lives somewhere else, in an unknown location, called in the hoax that led to a massive police response.

Swatting is such a serious problem across the country, that even the FBI is now paying attention.

How bad is the trash talking over the headsets?

Seventeen-year-old Rich Zambrano let us sit in on one of his Call of Duty sessions, which he says can sometimes go from funny to frightening faster than you can reload your avatar’s sniper rifle.

Back around the corner, Maria Castillo says although she understands her own son did nothing wrong by simply by winning a round of Call of Duty, it just might be his last.





my only question is.. how did the other gamer know where this kid lived???
 
Maybe he had his address in his profile? If so, he fails at the internet.
Also, aren't all calls to emergency services recorded ? I can't believe it'd be hard to track down the prank caller. Last encountered player list, details from Microsoft, comparison against call details.
 
So this is what the kids are doing in their free time now?
 
Of course this happened while playing COD lol. Seriously, if you still get mad when someone is owning you in Call of Doodie, then you need a serious course correction, because you're failing at life. I would like to know how he got the kids address and phone number though. If its just posted in the kids profile, then id say he needed a wake up call, because that's monumentally stupid.
 
aAIHly7.jpg
 
This article reads like an Onion story, how can this be real?
Unfortunately this is a terrible, national problem for law enforcement. It’s called swatting, when people playing a video game, if they lose, they call the police and mimic the person that they lost to, and say that they killed family members and then they see how many people they can get to come down here,” said Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney.
Click to expand...
 
BDaddyK said:
I am thinking the same thing.
Click to expand...
its very very real, was all over the news this morning
but this new game people are doing is not about gamers, but targets are every where
I will post some news articles for you
 
Last edited:
http://nypost.com/2014/04/23/fbi-helping-to-find-call-of-duty-gamer-behind-swatting-prank-call/

FBI helping to find Call of Duty gamer behind ‘swatting’ prank call
The FBI is assisting Long Island cops to find the gamer behind a hoax call that brought more than 70 heavily armed officers to the home of a teen who had just defeated him in an online game of Call of Duty.

Lieutenant Mark Stark of the Long Beach Police Department said the FBI has been an active part of the investigation.
 
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/201...tting-fake-9-1-1-calls-have-real-consequences

The Crime of ‘Swatting’
Fake 9-1-1 Calls Have Real Consequences

/03/13

The distraught-sounding man told the 9-1-1 operator he shot a family member and might kill others in the house. A SWAT team was urgently dispatched to the address corresponding to the caller’s phone number. But when the tactical team arrived, ready for a possible violent encounter, they found only a surprised family panicked by the officers at their door.

It’s called “swatting”—making a hoax call to 9-1-1 to draw a response from law enforcement, usually a SWAT team. The individuals who engage in this activity use technology to make it appear that the emergency call is coming from the victim’s phone. Sometimes swatting is done for revenge, sometimes as a prank. Either way, it is a serious crime, and one that has potentially dangerous consequences.






Since we first warned about this phone hacking phenomenon in 2008, the FBI has arrested numerous individuals on federal charges stemming from swatting incidents, and some are currently in prison (see sidebar). Today, although most swatting cases are handled by local and state law enforcement agencies, the Bureau often provides resources and guidance in these investigations.

“The FBI looks at these crimes as a public safety issue,” said Kevin Kolbye, an assistant special agent in charge in our Dallas Division. “It’s only a matter of time before somebody gets seriously injured as a result of one of these incidents.”

There have already been close calls. A police officer was injured in a car accident during an emergency response that turned out to be a swatting incident, Kolbye said, and some unsuspecting victims—caught off guard when SWAT teams suddenly arrived on their doorstep—have suffered mild heart attacks.

“The victims are scared and taken by surprise,” he said. Law enforcement personnel, meanwhile, rush to the scene of a swatting incident on high alert. “They believe they have a violent subject to apprehend or an innocent victim to rescue,” Kolbye explained. “It’s a dangerous situation any way you look at it.”

It is also expensive. It can cost thousands of dollars every time a SWAT team is called out. And although there are no national statistics on how many swatting incidents occur annually, Kolbye guesses there are hundreds. A recent trend, he said, is so-called celebrity swatting, where the targeted victims are well-known actors and musicians.

“People who make these swatting calls are very credible,” he said. “They have no trouble convincing 9-1-1 operators they are telling the truth.” And thanks to “spoofing” technology—which enables callers to mask their own numbers while making the victims’ numbers appear—emergency operators are doubly tricked.

Most who engage in swatting are serial offenders also involved in other cyber crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud, Kolbye said. They either want to brag about their swatting exploits or exact revenge on someone who angered them online.

Kolbye suggests making a police report about any swatting threats you receive online. Such threats typically come from the online gaming community, where competitors can play and interact anonymously. With a report on file, if a 9-1-1 incident does occur at your home, the police will be aware that it could be a hoax.

“The FBI takes swatting very seriously,” Kolbye said. “Working closely with industry and law enforcement partners, we continue to refine our technological capabilities and our investigative techniques to stop the thoughtless individuals who commit these crimes. The bottom line,” he added, “is that swatting puts innocent people at risk.”
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Swatting is the tricking of any emergency service (via such as a 9-1-1 dispatcher) into dispatching an emergency response based on the false report of an on-going critical incident. Episodes range from large to small, from the deployment of bomb squads, SWAT units and other police units and the concurrent evacuations of schools and businesses to a single fabricated police report meant to discredit an individual as a prank or personal vendetta. While it is a misdemeanor or a felony in every state in and of itself to report any untruth to law enforcement, swatting can cause massive disruption to the civil order and the public peace by the hoaxed deployment of police and other civic resources such as ambulances and fire departments. The term derives from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), a highly specialized type of police unit.
 
Did you know the PS4 gives you the option to link your PSN ID to your Facebook account where everyone then knows everywhere you have lived? The future of gaming! :D
 
starlight777 said:
Gamer pulls ‘swatting’ prank on Long Island teen after losing round of ‘Call of Duty’
http://pix11.com/2014/04/22/cops-break-down-teens-door-after-suspected-swatting-hoax/#axzz2zhm3EIoQ

Read more at http://pix11.com/2014/04/22/cops-br...-suspected-swatting-hoax/#77LyjswLdTv5CijI.99



LONG BEACH, Long Island (PIX11) – The police response to this quiet Long Beach, Long Island neighborhood Tuesday afternoon was intense, instantaneous and for good reason.

The anonymous caller told the dispatcher he’d just murdered his family inside their home on Laurelton Avenue.

Maria Castillo was one of the reported victims.

But, she is very much alive and so was her 17-year old son, who was playing the popular online video game Call of Duty, when police kicked in the door looking for armed suspect.

A few moments later, more than sixty members of law enforcement began to realize they had been swatted.

swat
At least 60 members of law enforcement showed up to the scene after the swatting prank.

“Unfortunately this is a terrible, national problem for law enforcement. It’s called swatting, when people playing a video game, if they lose, they call the police and mimic the person that they lost to, and say that they killed family members and then they see how many people they can get to come down here,” said Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney.

Maria’s son won a round of Call of Duty and the sore loser he played, who lives somewhere else, in an unknown location, called in the hoax that led to a massive police response.

Swatting is such a serious problem across the country, that even the FBI is now paying attention.

How bad is the trash talking over the headsets?

Seventeen-year-old Rich Zambrano let us sit in on one of his Call of Duty sessions, which he says can sometimes go from funny to frightening faster than you can reload your avatar’s sniper rifle.

Back around the corner, Maria Castillo says although she understands her own son did nothing wrong by simply by winning a round of Call of Duty, it just might be his last.





my only question is.. how did the other gamer know where this kid lived???
Click to expand...
If you link everything through a social network, use facebook to sign in, instead of creating accounts, you're wide open. My sister's web ID is compromised several times a year because she does things like that.
 
Besides the name, this is just a version of an old prank. When I was a dumb kid, I made a prank call to the police inside a Catholic school I went to. Some old guy got pissed because they called the pay phone I used and he knew it was me. I got some kind of words, but nothing ever actually happened to me. My stuff was pretty minor league though. I call, say, "Ba-ba-booey! Ba-ba-booey!" and hang up. This is just plain overkill.
 
They are talking about this very story and other swatting incidents
on NBC's nightly news just as I started reading this thread.
 
starlight777 said:
its very very real, was all over the news this morning
but this new game people are doing is not about gamers, but targets are every where
I will post some news articles for you
Click to expand...

:( I know, just saw it on the evening news when I got home from work.
 
Sounds like bulls*** and even if true, I imagine it is far from the 'national epidemic' it is made out to be. At least until it is covered by every new station, media blog and c*** filled forum becoming its own self fulfilling prophecy .

I guess the bright side maybe that these pranks cause police officers to start using their heads when they first enter a house, rather than their dicks..eerr guns. Can't say how many times in the past few months we've read stories about some over aggressive cop gunning down an innocent person.
 
Is it bad that thinking about how this situation went down makes me laugh a little bit? I mean, can you imagine the family that was the victim just all sitting down in their living room or at the dinner table, and all of a sudden 70 armed officers storm their house.
 
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