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SWATTING isn’t just about pranksters with too much free time anymore. Today’s bad actors are armed with AI voices, sound effects worthy of Netflix, and the tech savvy of someone who should really be working for Geek Squad. But don’t worry—Public Safety has a few tricks up its sleeve too.
I recently published a TiPS Episode about how SWATTING has evolved into what I call SWATTING 2.0— [WATCH HERE], a disturbing new wave of high-tech hoaxes that utilize AI, multimedia, and organized networks to deceive 911 centers into responding to false reports of emergencies. In this episode, we’ll talk about how Public Safety can—and must—fight fire with fire by turning to technology of its own.
The Problem: SWATTING Isn’t Just a “Prank” Anymore
Once upon a time, SWATTING was basically the crank call’s evil twin. Someone would call in a fake emergency—usually with a shaky robotic voice—and watch from their basement as SWAT teams rolled up on an online gamer who was live-streaming or to some unsuspecting victim’s home at 2:00 a.m.
But times have changed. Just as your flip phone gave way to a smartphone, SWATTING has also evolved. Welcome to SWATTING 2.0.
Today, we’re not dealing with loners with too much free time. Groups with ominous names like “The Comm” and “Purgatory” are now openly claiming responsibility for attacks, coordinating across international borders, and getting way too good at the production value of the attempts. Think of it as a blend of prank calls and Hollywood sound design.
Indicators Then vs. Now
Let’s rewind for a second. Early SWATTING incidents had some glaring red flags:
- Voice Quality: Calls used robotic, monotone voices. Sure, creepy, but you didn’t need an AI detection model to know it was fishy.
- Single Source: Usually, only one call came in. One terrified “witness,” reporting a massive catastrophe? Suspicious at best.
- Background Noise—or Lack Thereof: Dead silence behind the voice. No panicked screams, no traffic, no barking dog. Just… flat air.
Fast forward to now:
- AI Voice Clones: Swatters can spin up realistic voices that sound like your neighbor, your teacher, or Morgan Freeman (if they’re feeling dramatic).
- Multi-Line Barrages: Calls arrive not only on admin lines, but also on 911 trunks. More calls = more confusion = and additional manufactured credibility.
- Hollywood Backgrounds: Today’s swatters add gunfire soundtracks, crowd noises, even police radio chatter. Basically, they’ve become their own little multimedia production sound stages and studios.
Why It Works
Humans are emotional. That’s not a bug; it’s a feature. Call takers hear urgency, panic, and realistic detail—and the natural instinct is to believe it, because the cost of ignoring a real call is unthinkable.
And swatters know it. They layer in confusion, urgency, and chaos to slip under the radar. It’s like phishing emails—sure, some are obvious (“Prince of Nigeria wants to send you $10 million”), but some look eerily real.
Tech as a Double-Edged Sword
Federal agencies, such as the FBI, are working diligently, and arrests are indeed being made. But here’s the rub: these criminals also use advanced tech to mask their identities. VPNs, spoofed caller IDs, encrypted messaging—you name it.
So what’s Public Safety supposed to do? Well, for starters, you don’t bring a pencil and paper to a Beth conference with a calculator. You get your own calculator..
Fighting Tech with Tech
This is where the defensive playbook kicks in:
- Geo-Fencing Reality Checks
A geo-fence is essentially a digital “bubble” surrounding a facility or area. If a real device inside that bubble makes a call, the system will be aware of it.
- Example: A swatter calls in a report of an “active shooter” on a college campus. If the geo-fence doesn’t show any devices inside making a call, that’s a credibility hit. Not by any means an ultimate identifier of truth, just a significant indicator of credibility Not by any means an ultimate identifier of truth or false, just a substantial indicator of credibility.
Could geo-fences be spoofed? Technically, yes—but to do it right, you’d need to hack into the target’s network management layer, plant false device data, and time it perfectly with your hoax. That’s Mission: Impossible stuff, and even then, it’s challenging to stay invisible. Bottom line, this is not a standard, everyday capability.
- Credibility Scoring Models
Not everything is black or white. However, with the right technology, we can grade calls as green (likely legitimate), yellow (needs scrutiny), or red (highly suspect). Think of it like a credit score—but instead of approving you for a new car, it guides the recommended response parameters.
- Machine Learning Smarts
Every new SWATTING attempt is data. Feed it into the model, and AI will learn to see hard-to-see patterns. These can include, but are in no way limited to:
- Do fake calls always come from the same network range?
- Does background noise follow a suspiciously “looped” pattern?
- Are multiple calls using the same AI voice?
Over time, the system will become smarter, faster, and more effective at identifying the fakes.
- National Real-Time Intelligence Sharing
Imagine a “Waze for SWATTING.” If a hoax hits one city, that intel flows to other 911 centers in seconds. Real-time crime centers can identify patterns and raise awareness before the next incident occurs.
The Catch
Will technology alone end SWATTING? Nope.
But can we use tech to fight back and level the field? Absolutely.
Here’s the irony: the same innovation that makes SWATTING more convincing also gives us tools to catch it. It’s a high-tech arms race, but one where Public Safety can—and should—win by combining human judgment with machine speed.
The Future
Picture this:
A call comes in about shots fired at a school. The system cross-checks:
- No geo-fence activity.
- The same background noise pattern was flagged in three previous hoaxes.
- The call originated from a network known to use overseas VPN tunnels.
Boom—credibility score tanks. Dispatchers get the heads-up: treat with caution. They don’t dismiss it, but they respond smarter, safer, and with less chaos.
That’s the balance: respecting every call, but not letting criminals exploit fear.
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Thank you for taking the time to speak with me; I look forward to our next meeting. Stay safe and take care.
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