Truesee's Daily Wonder

Truesee presents the weird, wild, wacky and world news of the day.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

 

Swatting the prank that sends the police to unsuspecting residents

'Swatting' prank sends police to unsuspecting residents

This photo shows the door that police broke through after they received a false report of a possible murder taking place inside a North Toronto apartment, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy of Jason Myles) This photo shows the door that police broke through after they received a false report of a possible murder taking place inside a North Toronto apartment, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy of Jason Myles) This photo shows the door that police broke through after they received a false report of a possible murder taking place inside a North Toronto apartment, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy of Jason Myles)
This photo shows the door that police broke through after they received a false report of a possible murder taking place inside a North Toronto apartment, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy of Jason Myles)

This photo shows the door that police broke through after they received a false report of a possible murder taking place inside a North Toronto apartment, July 14, 2011. (Courtesy of Jason Myles)

 

 

Geoff Nixon, CTV News.ca Staff

Date: Saturday Aug. 6, 2011 7:46 PM ET

 

Police kicked down the door of a North Toronto apartment last month after a caller warned them about a "possible murder" taking place inside. 

But all they found was a guy wearing noise-cancelling headphones who had the misfortune to be working from home that day. 

"I didn't hear them knocking or banging on the door saying: ‘Please open up,'" said software consultant Jason Myles, describing the incident to CTVNews.ca in a recent telephone interview. 

"The first thing I heard was when they attempted to kick down the door." 

The headphones drowned out the initial commotion and by the time Myles heard the kicks, it was too late for the door. 

When Myles came face to face with the law, he put his hands up and found "a number of police officers pointing their weapons in my general direction." 

He was handcuffed and police quickly searched his apartment, which is located in the Yonge and Lawrence area. 

But there was no body to be found and the only victim was Myles, who was the unfortunate target of a prank phonecall to police. 

"Immediately they knew that nobody was murdered in the apartment or about to be murdered, so they picked me up off the ground, uncuffed me, then we spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out why they were in my apartment and why they came to this address," said Myles. 

They determined that someone had contacted 911 from a landline number that Myles had cancelled about two weeks before police arrived at his apartment looking for a murder that didn't occur. 

Myles believes he was a victim of something called "swatting," a prank in which a caller reports a fake emergency with the intent of getting police to mobilize a SWAT team. 

In this case, it wasn't a SWAT team that arrived at Myles' door, but uniformed officers, as well as firefighters and paramedics who also responded to the scene. 

"They were expecting a lot of violence and therefore probably needed their assistance," said Myles, who noted that the caller told police that at least one victim was involved.

An emerging trend in Canada? 

Myles read an article about a similar case that happened in British Columbia last month, and as far as he can tell, it appears that this was the exact same type of prank. 

In the case targeting his Toronto apartment, it appears the prankster "spoofed" the number on the call that went into police, likely through a computer or voice-over-Internet protocol setup, which has been used in dozens of other incidents in the United States. 

"Somebody spoofed that number calling 911, somehow, and what they told police on the 911 call was that they had just killed their mother and were about to kill their sister," said Myles. 

"And since they spoofed that number, the number was still registered to my name and address, so that's where they came." 

But he has no idea why his number was selected for use in the apparent swatting prank. 

"I don't know if the number was targeted because it was recently cancelled, or whether they just targeted a number at random, or whether they had inside information as to what numbers were currently or recently in use," said Myles. 

"I have no clue as to why they picked that number." 

Police subsequently apologized for what had happened and made arrangements to pay for the damage to the door.

Toronto police Const. Tony Vella said that while the July 14 call was determined to be a hoax, he said that all such emergency calls have to be treated seriously.

"As soon as a call is made to police, they will always send a police car to investigate," Vella told CTVNews.ca in a recent telephone interview. 

For his part, Myles has "no issues" with the way police handled the situation and was impressed by their bravery. 

"They came through that door expecting a very serious situation and they came through that door anyway," Myles said. 

"So I have nothing but respect for the police and for how they acted and what they did."


Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

Archives

March 2024   February 2024   January 2024   December 2023   November 2023   October 2023   September 2023   August 2023   July 2023   June 2023   May 2023   April 2023   March 2023   February 2023   January 2023   December 2022   November 2022   October 2022   September 2022   August 2022   July 2022   June 2022   May 2022   April 2022   March 2022   February 2022   January 2022   December 2021   November 2021   October 2021   September 2021   August 2021   July 2021   June 2021   May 2021   April 2021   March 2021   February 2021   January 2021   December 2020   November 2020   October 2020   September 2020   August 2020   July 2020   June 2020   May 2020   April 2020   March 2020   February 2020   January 2020   December 2019   November 2019   October 2019   September 2019   August 2019   July 2019   June 2019   May 2019   April 2019   March 2019   February 2019   January 2019   December 2018   November 2018   October 2018   September 2018   August 2018   July 2018   June 2018   May 2018   April 2018   March 2018   February 2018   January 2018   December 2017   November 2017   October 2017   September 2017   August 2017   July 2017   June 2017   May 2017   April 2017   March 2017   February 2017   January 2017   December 2016   November 2016   October 2016   September 2016   August 2016   July 2016   June 2016   May 2016   April 2016   March 2016   February 2016   January 2016   December 2015   November 2015   October 2015   September 2015   August 2015   July 2015   June 2015   May 2015   April 2015   March 2015   February 2015   January 2015   December 2014   November 2014   October 2014   September 2014   August 2014   July 2014   June 2014   May 2014   April 2014   March 2014   February 2014   January 2014   December 2013   November 2013   October 2013   September 2013   August 2013   July 2013   June 2013   May 2013   April 2013   March 2013   February 2013   January 2013   December 2012   November 2012   October 2012   September 2012   August 2012   July 2012   June 2012   May 2012   April 2012   March 2012   February 2012   January 2012   December 2011   November 2011   October 2011   September 2011   August 2011   July 2011   June 2011   May 2011   April 2011   March 2011   February 2011   January 2011   December 2010   November 2010   October 2010   September 2010   August 2010   July 2010   June 2010   May 2010   April 2010   March 2010   February 2010   January 2010   December 2009   November 2009   October 2009   September 2009   August 2009   July 2009   June 2009   May 2009   April 2009   March 2009   February 2009   January 2009   December 2008  

Powered by Lottery PostSyndicated RSS FeedSubscribe