West Newsmagazine 5-20-20

12 I NEWS I
May 20, 2020
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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A Different Kind of Virus:
Online safety in the age of COVID-19
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By JESSICA MESZAROS
In the early morning hours of May 1,
the Ballwin Police Department shut down
Holloway Road in response to a reported
police tip about a barricaded subject inside
a local residence. The tip was reported to
the department’s 911 call center, but after
authorities responded to the home in question,
it was quickly discerned that the tip
had been a hoax.
This form of online harassment is known
as “swatting.” It occurs when an anonymous
individual prank calls or sends a fake
tip to an emergency service that results in
the dispatch of police and emergency service
response teams to another person’s
address. In extreme cases, armed law
enforcement officers or a SWAT team may
be sent in to investigate the claim, hence
the name.
The victim of the call, as is the case with
many similar cases, was cleared of any suspicion
and not charged.
According to Ballwin Public Information
Officer Scott Stephens, the victims
of these attacks, including the most recent
one, are usually online gamers that become
involved in heated discourse or trash talk
on servers or in online chat rooms.
“They [swatting calls] are pretty popular
throughout the country,” Stephens said.
“Most of the time, it happens through or
originates from video game chats. We personally
don’t get them a lot here, which is
good, but we are aware of them.”
While this is not the first swatting call
the department has received, it is the only
one reported to the department during the
COVID-19 quarantine.
“This is the first one we’ve seen in quite
a while,” Stephens said.
The origin of the call, in the early morning
hours of May 1, is still being investigated
by Ballwin detectives. While the
fake call came through the department’s
phone line, these fake tips can also be submitted
via email or even via social media
channels like Facebook.
Sometimes, swatting calls can be a
result of doxing. Doxing is another form
of harassment where the private information
of an online user, such as their phone
number or home address, is leaked publicly
online. This information can include
details such as someone’s real name and
financial records.
According to Stephens, swatting calls
are rarely one-off situations. They usually
occur between two individuals who are
aware of each other. He added that there’s
not necessarily a [target] age demographic.
“Any of these games that we see where
there’s trash talk or anything like that,
that’s what tends to get out of hand, and it
goes from there,” Stephens said.
In some cases, swatting is possible
when individuals share too much personal
information online. Other times, it is made
possible when the offenders use malicious
means to backtrace an individual’s location
or account registration details via hacking
techniques or software.
This means that, while swatting calls
and other forms of online harassment are
hardly random, they can literally occur
from anywhere in the world.
“These calls come from around the country,
sometimes from the other side of the
world,” Stephens said. “Our world is a lot
more connected than it used to be. Especially
for our younger people and people
involved in online worlds. Some of their
closest friends are people they have never
met before or in-person. Sometimes this
can be a one-off, but typically not. Usually,
See ONLINE SAFETY, page 37