A famous “Grand Theft Auto” actor was swatted during a Thanksgiving livestream.
Ned Luke, the voice actor of most important character Michael De Santa in “GTA 5,” was swatted during a YouTube livestream of himself playing the violent video game for fans on Thursday.
The actor took a phone call apparently warning him before he abruptly ended his stream.
“I gotta go,” Luke, who has over 60,000 YouTube subscribers, said through the livestream. “Now these a–holes have swatted my house, so I gotta go.”
Swatting — when someone makes a false 911 report eliciting a hefty and aggressive police response — has develop into more common during the last decade because it becomes easier for callers to hide identities with masked voices and spoofed phone numbers or IP addresses.
The FBI created a nationwide database this yr on account of the apparent rise in hoax calls, recording over 200 swatting incidents between May 1 and Sept. 21, in accordance with the FBI.
“The FBI takes swatting very seriously since it puts innocent people in danger,” a FBI spokeperson told Fox News in September. “We’ll proceed to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to collect, share, and act upon threat information because it involves our attention.”
The hoax calls weren’t officially tracked before the database’s inception, but a former FBI agent, Kevin Kolbye, estimated swatting incidents jumped from 400 in 2011 to over 1,000 in 2019, in accordance with an Anti-Defamation League report.
Hours after the swatting incident, Luke responded on X to accusations that Rockstar Games, “GTA’s” publisher, didn’t mask the IP addresses of its players.
“Y’all jumping to some large a– conclusions,” Luke replied to at least one user. “This had nothing to do with Rockstar.”
“These a–holes leaked my private info years ago and have been doing this s– since,” Luke continued. “Anyone’s info is obtainable online in the event you are sick enuff to essentially wanna find it.”
Darren Watkins Jr., a YouTube star with nearly 22 million subscribers referred to as “IShowSpeed,” was also swatted while livestreaming on Monday.
He stepped away from his computer to go downstairs, warning viewers about his safety before going off camera. Viewers could see three armed cops walking through his home afterward.
“I just got swatted. I wish I knew whoever did that,”Watkins said on Snapchat after the incident. “That’s f—ed up. Don’t ever do this again in your life, bro.”
A few of the hoax threats have even turned deadly.
A false report resulting in an armed police response, for instance, led a cop to shoot and kill a Kansas man in 2017.
“I could have really died,” Watkins said. “I had guns to my face. Don’t ever do this again.”
A famous “Grand Theft Auto” actor was swatted during a Thanksgiving livestream.
Ned Luke, the voice actor of most important character Michael De Santa in “GTA 5,” was swatted during a YouTube livestream of himself playing the violent video game for fans on Thursday.
The actor took a phone call apparently warning him before he abruptly ended his stream.
“I gotta go,” Luke, who has over 60,000 YouTube subscribers, said through the livestream. “Now these a–holes have swatted my house, so I gotta go.”
Swatting — when someone makes a false 911 report eliciting a hefty and aggressive police response — has develop into more common during the last decade because it becomes easier for callers to hide identities with masked voices and spoofed phone numbers or IP addresses.
The FBI created a nationwide database this yr on account of the apparent rise in hoax calls, recording over 200 swatting incidents between May 1 and Sept. 21, in accordance with the FBI.
“The FBI takes swatting very seriously since it puts innocent people in danger,” a FBI spokeperson told Fox News in September. “We’ll proceed to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to collect, share, and act upon threat information because it involves our attention.”
The hoax calls weren’t officially tracked before the database’s inception, but a former FBI agent, Kevin Kolbye, estimated swatting incidents jumped from 400 in 2011 to over 1,000 in 2019, in accordance with an Anti-Defamation League report.
Hours after the swatting incident, Luke responded on X to accusations that Rockstar Games, “GTA’s” publisher, didn’t mask the IP addresses of its players.
“Y’all jumping to some large a– conclusions,” Luke replied to at least one user. “This had nothing to do with Rockstar.”
“These a–holes leaked my private info years ago and have been doing this s– since,” Luke continued. “Anyone’s info is obtainable online in the event you are sick enuff to essentially wanna find it.”
Darren Watkins Jr., a YouTube star with nearly 22 million subscribers referred to as “IShowSpeed,” was also swatted while livestreaming on Monday.
He stepped away from his computer to go downstairs, warning viewers about his safety before going off camera. Viewers could see three armed cops walking through his home afterward.
“I just got swatted. I wish I knew whoever did that,”Watkins said on Snapchat after the incident. “That’s f—ed up. Don’t ever do this again in your life, bro.”
A few of the hoax threats have even turned deadly.
A false report resulting in an armed police response, for instance, led a cop to shoot and kill a Kansas man in 2017.
“I could have really died,” Watkins said. “I had guns to my face. Don’t ever do this again.”
