The first German “Swatter” goes to prison – more than 3 years in jail is the reward for the supposed “fun”.
Swatting has drastically increased during the time of streamers on Twitch and other platforms. The perpetrator calls the police and says things like: “Yes, I have a hostage here and will shoot them soon” – giving the address of the streamer he doesn’t like. If everything goes “according to plan”, a few minutes later the victim can be seen being dragged out of the apartment by the police, firefighters, or a special operations team in the livestream.
In America, there are shockingly many such cases, but the “phenomenon” is also gaining traction in Germany. In July 2015, the controversial streamer “Drachenlord” was caught, leading to a major deployment of the fire brigade.
The responsible person could be identified – also because he boasted about his act – and was brought to court. The sentence: Three years and five months in prison.
The “abuse of emergency calls” – four in total – accounts for “only” 15 months of the sentence. The perpetrator was also convicted for other cybercrimes, such as the distribution and possession of animal and child pornography and several cases of computer fraud.
The penalty could have been significantly higher according to the court, if, due to the “fake call”, a real emergency could not be handled or if there had been personal injuries. Ultimately, the perpetrator got off lightly with his punishment – however, a stern warning is still likely to be the time in prison.
Cortyn says: Finally. For nearly a decade, this terrible practice of unleashing special forces or rescue services on other people has existed. This is not only a difficult situation for the victims, but also for the emergency services, who always have to assume a serious incident.
At the latest, when a real operation cannot take place because of a “swatter” – because the forces are tied up with a person, although there is nothing to do – the drama would be significant. I think this is a right step. Those who exploit the people who protect us with their lives in emergencies should have plenty of time to think in prison. Maybe they will come to their senses after all.
In other countries, there have also been sentences against “swatters”.
