All posts tagged "Swatting"

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on Friday that his family was targeted in a "terrifying" swatting incident — but this involved Child Protective Services.

Buttigieg described what happened in a Substack post and said a CPS worker showed up at his home and asked to speak with him after someone filed a false report about him and his young children. He said his family was safe after the incident, adding "I am beyond furious."

He invited them to come inside and asked what was happening....

False reports of active shooters that put Villanova University in Philadelphia and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on lockdown and saw law enforcement swarming over campuses last week were likely perpetrated by an online swatting group called “Purgatory,” extremism researchers say.

Five Purgatory members hosted a voice call on Discord, a platform popular with gamers, on Aug. 21 to an audience of 41 people, livestreaming the bogus calls to authorities at Villanova and Tennessee, according to a report by Marc-André Argentino, a Canadian researcher.

Using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service that masks caller identity and location, a Purgatory leader with the screenname “Gores” made calls reporting active shooters, per a report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, or GPAHE, which also monitored the chat. ...

A 19-year-old Ohio man who set up an online group chat and wrote scripts for Purgatory, a nihilistic swatting gang that targeted a casino, airport, trailer park and schools, has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Brayden Grace of Columbus, Ohio, appeared before Judge Julie Rebecca Rubin in Baltimore on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, cyberstalking, threat to damage and destroy by means of fire and other charges.

Grace was responsible for developing swatting scripts for a two-month coordinated campaign that sought to sow fear and tie up law enforcement resources across the U.S. in December 2023 and January 2024, according to prosecutors....

California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was targeted in a "swatting" attack after she publicly called for former President Donald Trump to be disqualified from the state ballot, Politico reported on Thursday.

"The incident at Kounalakis’ Pacific Heights condominium came days after California’s No. 2 official wrote to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber urging her to exclude Trump from California’s 2024 primary," reported Christopher Cadelago. "Weber did not acquiesce to Kounalakis’ request, siding with Gov. Gavin Newsom who telegraphed to fellow Democrats not to get ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court and dismissed the moves as 'political distraction.'"

"Swatting" means placing a fake shooting or other serious criminal report against someone's address, causing a SWAT team to arrive on the property. Such raids are incredibly dangerous, and can lead to injuries or death, as well as tying up vital police resources. Some other politicians have been targeted in similar attacks in recent months, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)....