THE WASHINGTON POST: What is swatting, the tactic being used to target Donald Trump Cabinet picks?

Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for key government roles have been victims of “numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents,” the FBI said Wednesday - calling renewed attention to a dangerous intimidation tactic that high-profile figures have faced for years, and which has proved stubbornly difficult to stop.

“Swatting” - a form of harassment in which authorities are misled to believe that a serious threat or crime is underway, leading police to an urgent response, often at the target’s home - has caused scenes so chaotic that a Tennessee man once suffered a fatal heart attack after he was targeted, while another man was shot dead by police in Kansas.

Trump’s transition team said that “several” of the president-elect’s picks faced “threats to their lives” Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but did not specify who had been targeted or how many people were victims. At least six people selected for prominent positions said they had received threats to their homes, including people Trump plans to nominate as head of the Labor Department and Defense Department.

Here’s what to know about swatting and why it’s so hard for authorities to stop.

What is swatting and how does it work?

The Department of Homeland Security defines swatting as the act of making “malicious hoax calls” to emergency services with the intent to cause “large-scale” deployment of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, bomb squads or other police resources. Not only is the tactic a waste of police and first responder resources, but it can lead to dangerous altercations between law enforcement officers who believe they’re walking into a dangerous situation and unsuspecting victims who may try to flee or defend themselves.

Swatting is a “daily occurrence” and incidents “often come in clusters across the U.S.,” the DHS says, with law enforcement agencies having sounded alarms over the practice for at least two decades. Hoax callers often report fake active shooter incidents, bomb threats, homicides or hostage situations, according to the DHS, and typical targets include schools, hospitals, governmental institutions, politicians or officials, celebrities, journalists and gamers on streaming platforms.

There hasn’t been definitive research into how many swatting incidents occur annually. Last year, the FBI reportedly launched a database to help track incidents nationally, and The Washington Post reported that hundreds of U.S. schools were swatted in what appeared to be a coordinated campaign of fear that involved numerous school shooting hoaxes.

Who has been swatted?

Celebrities, political figures across the spectrum and streamers have been swatted in recent years, adding to a disturbing trend that hasn’t always led to suspects being identified by authorities, let alone arrests or convictions.

On Thanksgiving, at leave five Democratic members of Congress in Connecticut reported on social media or confirmed in statements that they had received bomb threats targeting their homes: Sen. Chris Murphy and Reps. Joe Courtney, Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes and John B. Larson. Police responded in each instance and determined that there were no bombs or real threat in each case, according to statements from their offices.

The family home of David Hogg, the vocal gun control activist who survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was swatted months after the tragedy.

Earlier this year in January, Reuters reported that a swatting incident occurred at the home of U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who was presiding over the criminal case charging Trump with attempting to overturn the 2020 election. This past summer, two European men were indicted and accused of swatting Congress members, law enforcement officials and several lawmakers.

In 2013, Kim Kardashian wrote on social media that she and her husband at the time, Kanye West, had been swatted at their residence. That same year, a 12-year-old California boy admitted to swatting the singer Justin Bieber and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Some have suggested that swatting took off as a fad in the online streamer and gaming community, with swatting incidents becoming so frequent that some have pieced together video compilations of streamers being swatted while streaming. Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti, a popular transgender Twitch streamer, decried the practice after being swatted.

In 2019, a 26-year-old California man, Tyler Barriss, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after falsely reporting a homicide at an address in Kansas that led to an uninvolved man getting shot and killed by police in 2017. The case started as a dispute between two gamers playing “Call of Duty: WWII.” One player threatened to swat the other, and the other player responded by giving a random address he claimed was his residence. The address was supplied to Barriss, an anonymous online swatter, who made the hoax call. Ultimately, the two gamers - one from Ohio and the other from Kansas - were sentenced to 15 months and 18 months, respectively, for their involvement.

This week, the Trump picks who said they received threats to their homes include: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), prospective U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; former congressman Lee Zeldin (R-New York), prospective Environmental Protection Agency administrator; Brooke Rollins, prospective head of the Agriculture Department; Scott Turner, prospective head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon), Trump’s pick for labor secretary; and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to head the Defense Department.

Why is swatting so hard to stop?

Though swatting can lead to felony charges, some hoax callers are hard to track down. Offenders often use caller ID spoofing to look like they’re calling from the victim’s phone number, as well as social engineering tactics, voice masking technology, and tactics teletypewriter (TTY) relay - a phone system designed for people who have hearing or speech impairments.

Hoax callers also sometimes manage to evade authorities by using voice-over internet protocol, or VoIP, numbers to make telephone calls over the internet. Using this tactic, perpetrators outside the United States can use free online services to contact emergency services while appearing as if they are calling from within the country.

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Cate Cadell contributed to this report.

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