A 16-year-old male in Ottawa, Canada faces 60 charges, after being linked by police to numerous “swatting” incidents.
Last week, a Canadian news outlet, CTVNews.ca, reported that the teen was arrested on Thursday for his alleged involvement in swatting cases throughout Canada and U.S. states, including Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and California.
Swatting, which entails making prank emergency calls with special equipment, has increasingly diverted the attention and resources of SWAT teams away from real crises. Security experts have warned that all modern-day telephony networks, whether a private branch exchange (PBX) or voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) connection, are susceptible to the hoax.
The unnamed teen faces charges such as conveying false information with intent to alarm, mischief to property, public mischief and uttering death threats, CTVNews reported.
Two more teens in the country were reportedly arrested this month in suspected connection with the pranks.
