Summary
Alan Filion, an 18-year-old from California, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for orchestrating 375 swatting incidents between August 2022 and January 2024. Operating under various aliases, Filion charged clients for making false emergency calls that prompted significant police responses. His hoaxes included threats of school shootings and bombings, targeting institutions across the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Despite being questioned by the FBI in July 2023, he continued his activities until his arrest in January 2024, where he pled guilty to multiple charges.
He charged people to do it.
He was a professional terrorist.
Terrorism doesn’t just mean scaring people with violence; it means using violence to achieve political ends. Swatting-for-hire is not terrorism.
Fair point.