US ‘swatting’ pranks stoke alarm in election year

Experts say swatting perpetrators were aided by technology including AI tools such as text-to-voice programs that allowed them to mimic voices. Encrypted communication apps as well as VPNs, or virtual private networks, also made it harder to track them down. — Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

WASHINGTON: Startled by nighttime pounding on his door, American political strategist Rick Wilson walked out in his underwear to find policemen with guns drawn. They were responding to yet another hoax, increasingly seen as a tool of intimidation in a crucial election year.

In recent months, election workers, judges, and politicians – on both sides of the aisle – have been “swatted”, a potentially deadly prank when a caller triggers a large law enforcement response after reporting a false violent crime.