‘Weighing the pain and pleasure’: A look at what’s behind a ‘swatting’ call

Nassau County police officers enter a home in Long Beach, N.Y., in search of an armed killer, based on a phone call that turned out to be a hoax on April 22, 2014. (AP / Newsday, Jim Staubitser)

The number of hoax 911 calls known as “swatting” is on the rise throughout the region, and the reason behind it is a startling one.

Last week, Daniel Ransem, 22, made headlines across the country. The university student was arrested in London, England for an online post that shut down Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

“I was just copying what other people were doing. I was just trying to fit in and there was no mal-intent whatsoever behind what I posted.

After his bail hearing, Ransem seemed shocked that a simple post on a popular forum called "4chan" would become an international incident.

“There's a running joke on 4chan that we kind of post these… it's called Grinch posting. So we kind of say we're going to do some things, but we don't actually do it and it's kind of like an inside joke on the website,” Ransem said.

Police took the threat seriously. At Wilfrid Laurier, classes were cancelled and officers were called in. Hoax incidents have also happened in our region.

In May, a family in Richmond Hill woke to police kicking in their door. Someone had called 911 saying there was an active shooter in the house. In reality the family of four was sound asleep and had no idea why they were targeted.

That same month in Tottenham, police and bomb technicians rushed to a set of railroad tracks after getting a 911 call reporting a suspicious package. In the end, it turned out to be nothing.

In Clearview Township, a 21-year-old was arrested at the beginning of September and accused of making several hundred false calls to police and fire.

Melanie Marchand, a criminologist and teacher at Georgian College, says the people doing the swatting are typically men ages 18 to 25. She says part of the attraction of swatting for them is the risk of being discovered.

“They are weighing the pain and pleasure of the act. Will the pain of being caught outweigh the pleasure or the thrill of the actual act itself? I think people calculate that and they believe the risk is worth taking,” says Marchand.

A successful swatting call means bragging about it online and in forums to friends – the bigger the police response the better.

“For them it is like, ‘oh, look what I did' and it is kind of like an ego boost and they get to see it on the news,” says computer expert Aaron Weston.

Weston is sometimes used as a technical expert in court cases. He says another reason people choose to swat is for revenge.

“Because I don't like them, I don't like what they sell, I don't like the way they talk to me on a particular day, your son slighted me in this video game or he cheated. I know he enabled a hack and sniped me five times in a row, so guess what? I'm going on to the forum, I'm going to call on my buddies and we're going to make your life miserable,” says Weston.

And the other thrill is watching it all unfold.

“Often the individual or individuals responsible are not too far away, usually watching the response because again, this is what brings them the gratification and the pleasure,” says OPP Sgt. Peter Leon.

Still, people like Ransem maintain he made his post only as joke.

“In my eyes it wasn't considered a warning, it was considered a joke. You know I was under the assumption that people didn't take 4chan seriously,” Ransem says. “The truth is that I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong. I thought I was protected by freedom of speech, but obviously that is not the case.”

“Someone who is doing it for the malicious intent of doing it and they are weighing their options of the risk and the reward of getting caught. I think those are the individuals who are more malicious. They have the intent to commit the act and they know what they are doing,” says Marchand.

First responders worry about both the enormous cost and the risk.

“There is a price associated with it and the last thing we want to see is anyone unnecessarily hurt, injured or die as a result of the most inappropriate actions of one or two individuals,” says Leon.

There is no criminal offence called swatting, but people who are caught in Canada can be charged with criminal mischief, uttering threats or conveying a false message.

Penalties can include jail time of anywhere from 18 months to 10 years.