Multiple Michigan Swatting Events Today

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Jun 3, 2002
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Swatting is fake/hoax 911 calls. Today in Michigan about 9 schools were hit this morning with fake active shooter claims. I was working within sight (1/4 mile) of the mid-Michigan Lansing/Okemos one.

It was terrifying and extremely traumatic to witness this. At least 50 police cars from 5 jurisdictions were whizzing in from every direction, as were a couple ambulances, swat-team, and fire trucks. On my scanner I heard "civilian down in the southwest staircase". While standing near the road next to backed up traffic, 2 cars with affected parents rolled down their window and stated "shooting going on". A local surgeon interviewed at a nearby hospital stated he was told "we have shooting victims coming in". While some of the schools seemed to figure out quickly it was a hoax, this one was 100% full response and lock down. https://www.lansingstatejournal.com...afe-after-hoax-911-shooting-call/11202582002/

Man. I know better to think "this only happens elsewhere". My grand kids tell me how they have active shooter drills. I cannot fathom what anxiety this stuff causes for young people and their parents.
Swatting (2).jpg
 
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If someone really wanted to distract law enforcement for some reason - this would be the way I guess.

Active shooter drills are a way of life in schools now. My wife is a teacher. They retake the training annually and there expected to be the last line of defense, amongst all the other things they need to deal with every day. And they wonder why no one wants to be a teacher anymore.
 
They made phone calls. They will get caught. They may have spoofed their cell number with 555-1212, but what most people don't understand is the originating switch logs your real TN and the spoofed TN and the called TN. Fingering the real phone is child's play. Burner phone? Law enforcement will look for purchase records and the cell network will know close to the exact location the calls were place. If they called from a land line phone, they might as well turn themselves in, because the investigation won't take long, spoofed TN or not.
 
They made phone calls. They will get caught. They may have spoofed their cell number with 555-1212, but what most people don't understand is the originating switch logs your real TN and the spoofed TN and the called TN. Fingering the real phone is child's play. Burner phone? Law enforcement will look for purchase records and the cell network will know close to the exact location the calls were place. If they called from a land line phone, they might as well turn themselves in, because the investigation won't take long, spoofed TN or not.
So burner phones can be tracked by purchase? I didn't know that. I figured they could look at the phones pings on different antenna's and cross ref locations and consistant proximity to other phones.
 
It's possible to set up some of these through VoIP. I've heard of scam callers from India getting upset enough to call for police using a spoofed phone number of the recipient. But it might be easier if the target has a land line and not a cell phone line.
 
So burner phones can be tracked by purchase? I didn't know that. I figured they could look at the phones pings on different antenna's and cross ref locations and consistant proximity to other phones.
If more than just local police get involved it seems like everything is traceable. We can't hide. In Southern CA they started putting up these license plate cameras all over. They aren't "monitored" but if a crime takes place they can basically follow a vehicles past movements. Same with any cell phone. They can get it down to like 6 feet or something
 
That does make it somewhat harder to find the perp, but not that hard to figure out where the call came from.
AFAIK, they can find out the POP of the SIP trunk and the IP of the initiating point. But it’s easy for someone with some coding knowledge and access to a cheap SIP trunk/relay to setup a few lines in Asterisk.
 
AFAIK, they can find out the POP of the SIP trunk and the IP of the initiating point. But it’s easy for someone with some coding knowledge and access to a cheap SIP trunk/relay to setup a few lines in Asterisk.
The call is eventually carried by a regulated service. That's where the call becomes 100% traceable.
 
The call is eventually carried by a regulated service. That's where the call becomes 100% traceable.

I dunno. I remember hearing about scam callers in India swatting people who insulted them. Might be a little bit more difficult to trace that way.

I get lots of calls from halfway around the world using VoIP that is identified as US locations. But it's really weird because the sound quality is just so staticky even though VoIP should be clear, although possibly tinny depending on the settings.
 
Here's a scary thought.

A bully in school decides to pick on his target by SWATting him by name. "911? Come quick, [target kid's name] has a gun in X high school!" Just wait—that's going to happen.
 
Here's a scary thought.

A bully in school decides to pick on his target by SWATting him by name. "911? Come quick, [target kid's name] has a gun in X high school!" Just wait—that's going to happen.
This is what's already happening and has been for many years.
 
Burner phone? Law enforcement will look for purchase records and the cell network will know close to the exact location the calls were place.
I think that part could be made much more difficult by the person wanting to do these things. Buy the phone from a place without cameras or buy it and wait a long time hoping that the place only saves their recordings for a certain time, buy it in another area, place the call from somewhere a good distance from where you live.
 
The call is eventually carried by a regulated service. That's where the call becomes 100% traceable.
The media has been reporting that the phone call was made through an unknown Google number. Later they stated that the number was confirmed. What does that mean?

Also, today (the day after) is the Michigan school head count day where the attendance numbers are used to determine each school's funding. With many of these schools canceling classes this second day, I wonder how they will handle this.
 
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You guys are really behind times and tech. A phone call can be initiated from any computer or smartphone on the planet, using different proxies and VPNs, and the number displayed on the other side can be anything you want. There are tons of prank call videos with the person receiving a call from their own number.

A person in another country could make this call, and probably did, maybe with collaboration with someone local. So even if they could trace the call, they have no jurisdiction.
 
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