Swatting

Phreaks are motivated to commit acts of swatting out of revenge against another phreak, for “lulz”, boredom, or as a rite of passage among certain hacker groups. News media rarely cover swatting events against non-celebrities, making it harder for phreaks to ascertain if the swatting phone call succeeded in manipulating the police. Swatting is a dangerous phreak activity since it wastes police resources as well as endangers the lives of police officers and the general public. Celebrities are often the target of swatting calls, and SWAT teams have been hoaxed into responding to the present or former addresses of actors and musicians, including Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, and Ashton Kutcher. Swatting can be potentially lethal, and it wastes emergency resources that otherwise could be directed to legitimate needs. Most swatting calls seem to be driven by egotistical motivations on the part of callers, and most swatting calls in united States seem to be domestic in origin.