cormack12
Gold Member
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/torswats-swatting-arrest/
A 17-year-old from California is allegedly the swatter known as Torswats, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The teenager is currently in custody and awaiting extradition from California to Seminole County, Florida. The Florida State Attorney’s Office tells WIRED that he faces four felony counts.
The teenager’s arrest comes in the midst of a nationwide swatting surge. Swatting attacks typically involve someone calling in fake attacks to 911 in an attempt to solicit an overwhelming police response.
According to the Florida State Attorney’s Office, the charges against the California teenager include making false reports concerning the planting of a bomb or the use of firearms, causing a law enforcement response. All charges are described as related to acts of terrorism and showing prejudice based on race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, or religion.
Brad “Cafrozed” Dennis, a private investigator who works for high-profile Twitch streamers who've been swatted, has been hunting Torswats for nearly two years and actively helping the FBI’s investigation. “It’s a beautiful day,” Dennis says. “I am very relieved Tor will no longer be able to conduct his reign of terror on our schools and public officials just doing their jobs.”
"HELLO, I AM going to commit a mass shooting in the name of Satan," a voice with a fake Southern accent drawled to a police dispatcher in Seminole County, Florida, on May 12, 2023. The caller spoke slowly and deliberately when he told the dispatcher that he was armed with pipe bombs and an AR-15 rifle, walking into a mosque to kill everyone he saw. The call ends with the sound of gunshots likely sourced from a video game.
That day, the same voice-over-IP phone number called threats into at least two other mosques in Florida, according to police records obtained by WIRED. That week, in a private Telegram chat, an individual operating the Torswats Telegram channel took responsibility for sending police officers scrambling to as many as 20 schools in Washington state and four historically Black colleges and universities in Texas. Audio from 911 calls reviewed by WIRED and interviews with local law enforcement confirm that many if not all of the Washington state calls were made by someone sounding like an individual associated with the Torswats account. Some used a similar script, referencing an AR-15 rifle and pipe bombs.
They then would Google the phone number for the nearest police department and use Google Voice to place calls. While most of this appeared to be done on an Android device, they would occasionally use a digital sound board on their PC to introduce gunshot sounds that appeared to be recorded from the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
“State and local law enforcement often feel like a swatter is doing something sophisticated, and that’s just often not the case,” Keven Hendricks, a cybercrime expert and swatting investigator, tells WIRED. In November, Torswats claimed to have swatted Hendricks and his family. Hendricks declined to comment about the swatting.
A 17-year-old from California is allegedly the swatter known as Torswats, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The teenager is currently in custody and awaiting extradition from California to Seminole County, Florida. The Florida State Attorney’s Office tells WIRED that he faces four felony counts.
The teenager’s arrest comes in the midst of a nationwide swatting surge. Swatting attacks typically involve someone calling in fake attacks to 911 in an attempt to solicit an overwhelming police response.
According to the Florida State Attorney’s Office, the charges against the California teenager include making false reports concerning the planting of a bomb or the use of firearms, causing a law enforcement response. All charges are described as related to acts of terrorism and showing prejudice based on race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, or religion.
Brad “Cafrozed” Dennis, a private investigator who works for high-profile Twitch streamers who've been swatted, has been hunting Torswats for nearly two years and actively helping the FBI’s investigation. “It’s a beautiful day,” Dennis says. “I am very relieved Tor will no longer be able to conduct his reign of terror on our schools and public officials just doing their jobs.”
"HELLO, I AM going to commit a mass shooting in the name of Satan," a voice with a fake Southern accent drawled to a police dispatcher in Seminole County, Florida, on May 12, 2023. The caller spoke slowly and deliberately when he told the dispatcher that he was armed with pipe bombs and an AR-15 rifle, walking into a mosque to kill everyone he saw. The call ends with the sound of gunshots likely sourced from a video game.
That day, the same voice-over-IP phone number called threats into at least two other mosques in Florida, according to police records obtained by WIRED. That week, in a private Telegram chat, an individual operating the Torswats Telegram channel took responsibility for sending police officers scrambling to as many as 20 schools in Washington state and four historically Black colleges and universities in Texas. Audio from 911 calls reviewed by WIRED and interviews with local law enforcement confirm that many if not all of the Washington state calls were made by someone sounding like an individual associated with the Torswats account. Some used a similar script, referencing an AR-15 rifle and pipe bombs.
They then would Google the phone number for the nearest police department and use Google Voice to place calls. While most of this appeared to be done on an Android device, they would occasionally use a digital sound board on their PC to introduce gunshot sounds that appeared to be recorded from the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
“State and local law enforcement often feel like a swatter is doing something sophisticated, and that’s just often not the case,” Keven Hendricks, a cybercrime expert and swatting investigator, tells WIRED. In November, Torswats claimed to have swatted Hendricks and his family. Hendricks declined to comment about the swatting.
