A video gamer that reported a fake murder and threatened to hack into somebody’s banking account has been arrested on multiple accounts for his “Swatting” attack.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Brandon Wilson, from Nevada, called in a murder to Naperville police in Illinois last July. When Naperville’s Special Response Team showed up at the address given, there was no crime committed.
Wilson was able to hack into two game consoles and obtained personal information from them. Just reporting a murder wasn’t all the “Swatter” planned to do.
He also threatened the Naperville resident that he would access the person’s bank and Social Security accounts, and put the person’s father “in debt for life,” prosecutors claim.
Luckily, Naperville’s finest was able to track down Wilson in Las Vegas and arrest him. He’s currently awaiting transfer to Illinois and faces two counts of computer tampering and one count of intimidation, computer fraud, identity theft, and disorderly conduct. He faces up to five years of imprisonment.
What is “Swatting?”
For those unfamiliar with “Swatting,” it’s the act of calling in a hoax that could require the action of a local SWAT team. Illinois is in the process of making it a felony.
The act is especially popular when idiots call in for a SWAT team while somebody is streaming on Twitch. This happened recently to user Koopatroopa787, who was playing Runescape and Clash of Clans at the time. He had an emotional message to the “Swatter” afterwards.
“Swatting” is a serious crime in itself and anybody that chooses to do it has no idea how it can affect people on the other end. SWAT teams have to do their job seriously and if that user’s little brother acted at all hostile toward the officers, he could have been shot.
It’s a heinous activity that deserves punishment at the highest degree. For more on “Swatting,” here’s a feature from Chris Lemus.
Image credit: JRM
