FBI Pittsburgh says it's working around the clock to combat hoax 'swatting' calls
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — FBI Pittsburgh says it will use all resources to find whoever is responsible for the recent hoax "swatting" calls in the area.
On the heels of the Nashville shooting, law enforcement descended upon schools all over western Pennsylvania after a call came in about an active shooter at Central Catholic.
Mike Nordwall, the special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh, said even though his agents quickly realize it was a false report, it's real until it is not.
"The victims of these hoaxes, the students, the educators, the law enforcement that's responding but also to the parents," Nordwall said. "The parents that see a text or tweet or see something online about a lockdown at a school or a potential critical incident at that school."
As law enforcement in Oakland cleared both Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic high schools, Nordwall said his agents realized they had a "swatting" call on their hands. It's a serious and expensive problem.
"If you think about the activity last week, the dispatchers that had to deal with the law enforcement responding or the 911 calls coming in, that really takes them away from being able to respond to real incidents or calls for service," he said.
The people behind these hoax calls could face federal crimes since these calls often cross state lines. That is why it is imperative the FBI uses its tools to track the callers down.
"We have technical tools, we have analysts that work around the clock to do just that, to grab the pieces of intelligence and evidence that comes from a lot of these calls from across the nation and look for commonalities," Nordwall said.
These criminals are no longer staying local. They're tech-savvy and can cause panic from anywhere in the world.
"The actors and individuals who are involved in this use technology to their advantage," he said. "They'll spoof their numbers, which means they make them look like they're calling from a different number than they are."
