Amazon Ring cameras used in nationwide 'swatting' spree, US says

The pair allegedly gained access to 12 Ring home security cameras in nine states in November 2020 and placed fake emergency calls to local law enforcement agencies to summon police to the homes where the cameras were located. — Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

Two people who hacked Yahoo! email accounts to gain access to Ring home security cameras have been charged over a weeklong "swatting” spree that involved placing bogus emergency calls and live-streaming the armed police responses on social media, according to a Los Angeles grand jury indictment, the US Justice Department said.

Kya Christian Nelson, 21, of Racine, Wisconsin, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 20, of Charlotte, North Carolina, were charged with conspiracy to access computers without authorisation. Nelson, who is currently incarcerated in Kentucky in an unrelated case, was also charged with two counts of intentionally accessing a computer without authorisation and two counts of aggravated identity theft.