Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged a teenager for allegedly participating in a decentralized, global, digital crime syndicate. To date, this network is suspected to have prompted dozens of fake emergency calls. On December 18, federal authorities finally announced the charges against him. The damage was grave given that he went on to make false claims of mass shootings at the nation’s top retail and educational centers nationwide.
The teen had exploited the power of his online anonymity to carry out each one of these inciting emergency calls. His name has not been released due to being a minor. This new type of trolling, known as “swatting,” provokes immediate and overwhelming emergency responses by police and other first responders. As a consequence, it squanders needful resources on genuine emergencies. The teenager now faces 12 counts of telecommunications harassment. In addition, he faces another count of unauthorized possession of a prohibited firearm.
Graeme Marshall, the AFP’s acting assistant commissioner, wanted to impress on would-be offenders how serious this was. Those who believe they can commit crimes online without consequences are in for a rude awakening,” he continued. He said those perceptions are out of touch with reality, insisting that police departments have the resources and wherewithal to chase criminals.
“Thinking you can hide behind a keyboard and evade consequences is an illusion,” Marshall remarked. He stressed that this last teenager’s actions endangered lives. They made life dangerous and created an added burden on our emergency services.
Jason Kaplan, the International Operations Division’s assistant director at the FBI, denounced the practice of the so-called swatting. He focused on the real harm that results from doing so. He termed it a “dangerous and disruptive crime.” By exposing one such hoax, he showed how they can lead to real-world threats and put lives at risk. As Kaplan noted, responding to these expensive false alarms squanders critical resources. Those resources would have been better spent addressing the many critical needs elsewhere.
The teenager now finds himself up against grim legal consequences, including the possibility of at least 7 years, and up to 14 years, behind bars if convicted. He is due to next appear in a New South Wales children’s court, where additional legal proceedings are likely to unfold.