“Swatting” is the term for the phony calls directed to lawmakers around the United States.
On Wednesday, after receiving a fictitious report that a gunman had murdered Senator Rick Scott’s wife at the residence, police hurried to the senator’s residence in Florida.
Furthermore, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said that she was “swatted” on Christmas Day in front of her family.
This week, Republican leaders seemed to be the focus of the majority of swatting calls. There were no reported injuries. However, certain Democrats were also singled out, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who received a Christmas visit from a Swat squad.
On social media, Ms. Greene—a well-known conservative who backs Republican front-runner Donald Trump—said the phony calls were only the most recent in a string of them directed at her.
She posted on X, the former Twitter platform, saying, “I have been swatted eight times but the FBI can’t seem to figure out who is responsible for the swatting.”
Swatches were also directed against a number of officials in other states.
“On Christmas, someone’swatted’ my house. “Someone wished that I and my family would be unintentionally killed by police,” wrote Republican congressman Brandon Williams from New York.
According to authorities, swatting—making fictitious calls to emergency services in order to send out a Swat team—has become more common.
In the course of one weekend earlier this month, around 200 Jewish synagogues and institutions in the US were attacked.
According to an FBI letter obtained by ABC News, there seems to be a connection between the threats made against schools and synagogues.
According to Cathy Milhoan, assistant director of the FBI, the threats “look to be originating from outside of the United States.”
A heavily armed police squad was dispatched to a 28-year-old man’s home in December 2018 after receiving a fictitious call claiming there was a hostage scenario. The man was unintentionally shot and killed.
After making the fictitious call that resulted in the shooting, a guy from Los Angeles was eventually given a 20-year prison sentence.