What is the possible mentality that encourages "swatting"

[D_Dick_Jagger]

A dear friend of mine,along with his entire family,was the victim of this last night. For those of you who do not know, "swatting" is placing a fake 911 call with the intention of getting as many armed police officers and possibly the SWAT team out to a residence. It seems to bbe common amoung XBOX live gamers.

I do not wish to reveal to much info, as I am not sure he would appreciate this, but one of his family members is an avid gamer, and the police believe one of his rivals or possibly a teammate, perfomed the "swatting"

Thank God everyone was alright (the family member in question only lives there part time,and was not there for the event) but it could have gone six ways to sunday bad.

My question is what would cause the mentality for people to do such a thing? Behavior along these lines,to my way of thinking,is borederline sociopathic.

 

[vince]

This is the latest rage in the USA?

To hell in a hand basket.

Edit- I've removed the link because the news story had a clip of a fifteen year old boy who's home had been swatted in much the same way as Nico described below.

 

[MarkLondon]

When I was a kid some people got harrassed by having taxis turn up at their house expecting a booking. But a SWAT team? Sheesh!

 

[aninnymouse]

*blinks*

Wow, I don't know what to say.

/Yeah, when I was a kid, it was fun to do dumb shit like order someone a pizza at 2 in the morning, etc. This....NO....

 

[B_Nicodemous]

I wasn't going to post about this, but prax took it upon himself to do so. I really didn't want to bother anyone with this (i have other avenues to do so) Prax called me to let me know he had posted but had made it (in his mind ) vague enough so that I wouldn't be readily linked with it.

*sigh* Well his heart was in the right place.

Yesterday my family had 4 armed cops entering our home (4 or 5 more outside surrounding the premises). Weapons drawn. I am still a bit frazzled by it all, especially for my sister and nephew (the younger one, not the older one whose BS caused all this)

I don't have it in me to write all the details (I have done so ad nauseum elsewhere) but needless to say having 4 armed burly dudes enter your home because they have a report that a woman shot her two kids in the face, voices loud and startling my nephew (who is autistic) is not something I EVER wish to repeat. Thankfully things got resolved.

Will write more latter.

Right now I jut want to feel normal again (why I choose to start a Happy Bday thread this morn and not this)

Anyways, there ya go. Everyone should be aware that it happens, it's rather frightening when it does, and to keep that in mind the next time they or their kids get on xbox live. Some people just take winning and losing a tad too seriously, and apparently have fucking nothing better to do with their time than to cause havoc for people. My step nephew wasn't even hre at the time (he went back to his mom's house early) but because he had let people know he was supposed to be here, here is where they struck. His own house has had this happen 2 times because of his sister (my step niece) and her xbox habits. In that case, becuase they have a landline, the call appeared to the 911 operators to have originated form THEIR HOUSE!

Ours was sent in via the TTY service for the hearing impaired. Fucking crazy.

 

[aninnymouse]

???

Jesus!

All over a game. That's disgusting.

So glad you and yours are all okay.

 

[SprinkleMe69]

Major fucking felony charges right there for the person who did it Nico. Lets hope task force is all over this one.

 

[D_Blue_Barry_Eel]

Because trolls are hilarious.


Not heard of this happening before, sounds fucking ridiculous. A lot of people have literally no consideration for others in any respect. Glad you're all okay and everything is resolved, sounds like the guy needs to put his Xbox controller and get outside for a bit to breathe in some reality.

 

[aninnymouse]

Because trolls are hilarious.


Not heard of this happening before, sounds fucking ridiculous. A lot of people have literally no consideration for others in any respect. Glad you're all okay and everything is resolved, sounds like the guy needs to put his Xbox controller and get outside for a bit to breathe in some reality.

Did you go to the link that vince put up? The "Swatters" hack into the XBox, and then, use the computer to send a fake 911. Then, the SWAT team...Speacial Weapons and Tactics, the real bad asses, come out, and they only come out for the real dangerous stuff.

It's just a way of being nasty, and if you do Anything on the XBox at all, chances are it can happen to you.

Just another lovely way that computers have taken over our lives for the worse.

 

[D_Blue_Barry_Eel]

Did you go to the link that vince put up? The "Swatters" hack into the XBox, and then, use the computer to send a fake 911. Then, the SWAT team...Speacial Weapons and Tactics, the real bad asses, come out, and they only come out for the real dangerous stuff.

It's just a way of being nasty, and if you do Anything on the XBox at all, chances are it can happen to you.

Just another lovely way that computers have taken over our lives for the worse.

I didn't click it actually, no.

That's definitely an odd scenario, even odder to hear that it's happening somewhat frequently as opposed to just a one-off. What a strange world.

 

[aninnymouse]

I didn't click it actually, no.

That's definitely an odd scenario, even odder to hear that it's happening somewhat frequently as opposed to just a one-off. What a strange world.

Yeah. Initially, I thought, Oh, somebody's a little too freewheeling with the info they give out. Will be a learning experience.


No. The fact that people can do it thoughout the country, to anyone, is frightening. The fact that they do it without regard, is even more frightening.

It's even worse than trolls. This is pure, straight up, nasty malice, and evil intent.

Ones that get caught are getting the book thrown at them, thank God. I just hope they catch it, and put a stop to it before someone gets hurt.

 

[B_subgirrl]

As I said to Nico last night, I find this totally bizarre. I can't get my head around it. I just don't get why someone would do this.

*hugs to Nico and family*

 

[Zeuhl34]

Simply put, people tend to be dicks.

 

[MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK]

I should hope that more than simple resolution the cops thought they did wasn't they only thing that you did there, Nico. To charge into someone's house and virtually terrorize someone soley based on a bullshit charge is one thing, but to frighten a young child with a condition such as autism is despicable(Not sure if channeling Daffy Duck yet!)

 

[aninnymouse]

I should hope that more than simple resolution the cops thought they did wasn't they only thing that you did there, Nico. To charge into someone's house and virtually terrorize someone soley based on a bullshit charge is one thing, but to frighten a young child with a condition such as autism is despicable(Not sure if channeling Daffy Duck yet!)

Nah. What these bastards do is they fabricate a 911 call, Usually like it's coming from inside the house, or nearby, saying that there's a situation going on, like someone is taken hostage or somone is dead....Then the SWAT comes in with everything blazing....Recipe for someone to get hurt.

/evil bastards.

 

[rbkwp]

New Zealand equivalent? ... similar

practice on the citizens, (happened to be a Maori Tribal area) for a major Terrorism attack,... in NZ huh?

they eventually backed down, after several years, and dropped most of the charges

Police-made-repeated-trips-to-Urewera-camps16 Sep 2011 – Police repeatedly entered private Tuhoe land without legal authority to plant cameras to record what is alleged to have been military-style ...

police in ureweras - Google Search

 

[B_Nicodemous]

That's eactly it. Thankfully we dont have a landline aotherwise the call would have been made to seem to originate from our house. The step nephew and neice had that happen already, and in that case (as it was one of the first up here) the cops had them on the ground and cuffed as they looked around. Then the step neice (the assholes who did this made the call as her, saying she had shot her mom) in custody for 48 hours as they tried to assertain that it wasn't her making a fake 911 call.

Ours was sent in via a service for the hearing impaired, pretending to be a neighbor or something. There has been a rash of them lately so they knocked on our door and were let in. The way they came in was meanacing and they were ordering us all out when my nephew bolted. The lead guy was saying " I said everyone needs to stay still, when my siter had to force them to listen and explain.

Needless to say that damn system is NEVER coming over here again. And we are doing everything to aid in finding who did this.

 

[LaFemme]

OMG! This is the most disgusting thing I've heard! The kids must have been terrified! What an evil & senseless thing to do.

And why do kids do this to someone? Because they think it's funny and they think it's a funny way to get back at someone. Because they haven't developed the capacity to feel empathy or understand the psychological/physical cost this kind of prank has on the family. Because consequences don't matter to them.

It doesn't even have to be the "bad" kids - any kid can get caught up in this kind of behaviour given the right kind of circumstance and pressure.

But it makes me sick to think of your family going through this Nico - truly sick.

 

[Q Vee]

Nico, I am sorry this has happened to you and your family (and anyone else).
I hope the perps are caught and properly dealt with.

The lack of empathy and foresight of individuals like this is astounding and frightening.

Peace to you and yours.

 

[MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK]

Nah. What these bastards do is they fabricate a 911 call, Usually like it's coming from inside the house, or nearby, saying that there's a situation going on, like someone is taken hostage or somone is dead....Then the SWAT comes in with everything blazing....Recipe for someone to get hurt.

/evil bastards.

Regardless, the SWAT guys should have apologized right then and there after they found nothing and terrorized Nico and his family. ME? I'd be finding a way to sue those idiots on whatever charge seemed appropriate.