Swatting
Swatting refers to a criminal act in which an emergency is faked by emergency call and as a result, for example, the police or a special unit is sent to another person, often a celebrity . The aim is to harm the person concerned. Revenge or boredom are often given as motives . The name is derived from the abbreviation SWAT of the American special unit Special Weapons and Tactics .
Prominent victims (selection)
On October 3, 2012, a twelve-year-old boy caused a police operation when he faked an emergency call from actor Ashton Kutcher's estate . The arriving police officers only met craftsmen. The perpetrator, who also made other emergency calls and thus hit Justin Bieber and a bank, caused costs of half a million US dollars .
On April 3, 2013, the police was Los Angeles to the home of P. Diddy called a caller reported a man was shot. However, when the police arrived, the house was deserted.
On January 17, 2013, an unidentified caller reported an armed intruder at Tom Cruise's property . The Beverly Hills Police Station estimated that more than half of their resources were committed to this operation that day.
In 2013, Paris Hilton , Ryan Seacrest , Rihanna , Justin Timberlake , Khloé Kardashian and Selena Gomez also fell victim to swatting.
Swatting among computer gamers
A new form of swatting that does not primarily affect celebrities is observed among computer gamers. Unpleasant opponents are reported to the control centers of the police or fire brigade, for example to take revenge for a lost match.
On December 30, 2017, a man was killed in a swatting-induced police operation in Wichita, Kansas . Previously, there had been an argument between two Call of Duty players during which one of the two gave an address and asked the other to "try something". This paid a third party to make the wrong emergency call. During the alleged hostage-taking, the 28-year-old resident was shot and died a short time later. All three people involved were arrested and face prison terms of between 20 years and life .
Legal classification
Swatting is punishable in Germany as misuse of emergency calls and impairment of accident prevention and emergency aid according to § 145 StGB and in most other countries.
Convictions
On June 26, 2009, a then 19-year-old was sentenced to 11 years and 4 months in prison in the United States after he admitted to having triggered the unprovoked use of a special unit for the first time in June 2006. In determining the sentence , however, was made more difficult by the fact that he and others had threatened an investigative security officer of the telecommunications company Verizon Communications .
On July 15, 2015, a 24-year-old man in Bavaria caused a large-scale operation of the fire brigade at the YouTuber and streamer Drachenlord in Altschauerberg with a false emergency call . The perpetrator, who also attracted attention on the Internet for inciting hatred and distributing child pornography, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison in 2016 by the Nuremberg-Fürth district court . The case is considered the first in Germany in which the perpetrator of a swatting had to answer in court and was convicted.
Web links
- Hakan Tanriverdi: How heavily armed police officers are hounded on innocent people. In: Süddeutsche .de , March 14, 2016, accessed on December 30, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Siering: "Swatting" scares Hollywood stars. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 21, 2012, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Michaela Haas: April, April in March: No more fun The new celebrity sport: Bad April jokes all year round. (No longer available online.) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin . March 23, 2013, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on March 27, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Dirk Hautkapp: Criminal Trend "Swatting" - Dangerous police jokes with celebrities. In: The West . April 10, 2013, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Alan Duke: Boy admits 'swatting' Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber. In: CNN .com. March 12, 2013, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ^ Tom Cruise - Lates Swatting Victim. In: TMZ.com. January 17, 2013, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Michaela Haas: April, April in March: No more fun The new celebrity sport: Bad April jokes all year round. (No longer available online.) In: Süddeutsche.de . March 23, 2013, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on March 27, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Christian Stöcker: Swat alarm as a prank: police officers arrest "Counter-Strike" players. In: Spiegel Online . August 28, 2014, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ^ Wilhelm Zsolt: "Swatting": The revenge of the worst losers. In: The Standard . April 26, 2014, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Wrong emergency call - police shoot uninvolved victim . In: sueddeutsche.de . 2017, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed December 30, 2017]).
- ↑ a b Christian Just: Swatting - After death in the dispute over Call of Duty you face 20 years imprisonment. Gamestar.de, May 25, 2018, accessed on May 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Christian Just: Swatting - innocent man shot dead by police in USA, possibly due to a call-of-duty dispute. Gamestar.de, December 30, 2017, accessed on May 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Robert Wilonsky: The 19-Year-Old Blind "Little Hacker" Gets 135 Months in Federal Prison For "Swatting". In: Dallas Observer . June 29, 2009, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Felix Knoke: Netzwelt Ticker: EU Commission threatens Germany because of mobile phone charges. In: Spiegel Online . June 30, 2009, accessed March 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Three and a half years imprisonment after a false alarm , Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 23, 2017
- ↑ 24-year-old admits allegations. In: Bayerischer Rundfunk . November 22, 2016, accessed August 21, 2019 .
