Swatting - A streamers worst nightmare
In everything in life, where there is good, people will find a way to make it bad.
Streaming is no exception. In what is usually a fun, interactive service being provided to users for entertainment purposes has opened some doors for a truly vile prank that is now being played on streamers and recently it has resulted in deadly consequences.
The prank is called swatting and it has occurred on numerous occasions with multiple different streamers. In fact, almost no one is safe from a swatting situation.
People who are watching another persons live-stream can be literally anywhere in the world. Using this anonymity to their advantage, they find out the area where a streamer lives or where he is. Keep in mind if the streamer is streaming themselves like Denino was, their location can be pinpointed with extreme accuracy. Then, the perpetrator contacts the police department and fabricates a scenario where they are sent to that persons house.
Anything from a hostage situation to a bomb threat is up for grabs.
These people, live on camera, have the police enter their houses with guns drawn, expecting armed resistance.
From the multiple videos available online that showcase incidents of swatting, it doesn't seem like the police forces are trained for this kind of situation and almost all appear caught extremely off guard.
Streaming is a relatively new avenue and so it would make sense that the police are not used to this sickening excuse for a joke.
It's not like they can't take the call serious either. A system really needs to be put into place to identify false calls.
On Thursday, December 28, a swatting prank occurred in Wichita, KA
Andrew Finch, 28, a father of two, was shot and killed by police after they received a threat of a hostage situation within the home.
The person who made the false hoax didn't even give the address of the person streaming and so they were dispatched to a random house.
It is reported that Finch was shot and killed almost instantly when he opened his door to investigate all the commotion.
According to screen grabs pulled from Twitter, two users @SWauTistic and @7aLeNT got into a feud over some money in war game Call of Duty and that is when @SWauTistic made the first call to police.
This kind of thing will continue and more people will get hurt or killed if change is not made.
Streaming is no exception. In what is usually a fun, interactive service being provided to users for entertainment purposes has opened some doors for a truly vile prank that is now being played on streamers and recently it has resulted in deadly consequences.
The prank is called swatting and it has occurred on numerous occasions with multiple different streamers. In fact, almost no one is safe from a swatting situation.
 |
| Streamer Paul "Iceposeidon" Denino has been the victim of several swatting attempts. Above, An ABC news story of Denino getting pranked by someone who called in a bomb threat on a flight Denino was on. |
People who are watching another persons live-stream can be literally anywhere in the world. Using this anonymity to their advantage, they find out the area where a streamer lives or where he is. Keep in mind if the streamer is streaming themselves like Denino was, their location can be pinpointed with extreme accuracy. Then, the perpetrator contacts the police department and fabricates a scenario where they are sent to that persons house.
Anything from a hostage situation to a bomb threat is up for grabs.
These people, live on camera, have the police enter their houses with guns drawn, expecting armed resistance.
From the multiple videos available online that showcase incidents of swatting, it doesn't seem like the police forces are trained for this kind of situation and almost all appear caught extremely off guard.
Streaming is a relatively new avenue and so it would make sense that the police are not used to this sickening excuse for a joke.
It's not like they can't take the call serious either. A system really needs to be put into place to identify false calls.
Fox Newscast on Wichita swatting incident
On Thursday, December 28, a swatting prank occurred in Wichita, KA
Andrew Finch, 28, a father of two, was shot and killed by police after they received a threat of a hostage situation within the home.
The person who made the false hoax didn't even give the address of the person streaming and so they were dispatched to a random house.
It is reported that Finch was shot and killed almost instantly when he opened his door to investigate all the commotion.
According to screen grabs pulled from Twitter, two users @SWauTistic and @7aLeNT got into a feud over some money in war game Call of Duty and that is when @SWauTistic made the first call to police.
This kind of thing will continue and more people will get hurt or killed if change is not made.
Comments
Post a Comment