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“Swatting” is a type of prank whereby someone falsely notifies police of a serious threat — bomb making, a hostage situation — in an attempt to have police respond with a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team to a targeted address.
On 30 August 2014, the National Report published an article positing that a teenager was convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to a quarter-century in prison for a swatting prank:
Horner is the first person in history to be charged with what is known as ‘swatting‘, a growing trend in which a person anonymously files a false police report, such as a murder or bomb threat, in hopes of provoking the police to raid an individual’s home or business. Prosecutors in the case proved that Horner called in multiple false threats against rival online gamers, resulting in SWAT team raids of their residence.
Soon afterwards links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered such references mistaking them for genuine news reports. However, the article was just a bit of fiction from the National Report spoofing rumors about the government monitoring of social media.
The National Report is a web site that publishes outrageous fake news stories such as “IRS Plans to Target Leprechauns Next,” “Boy Scouts Announce Boobs Merit Badge,” and “New CDC Study Indicates Pets of Gay Couples Worse at Sports, Better at Fashion Than Pets of Straight Couples.” The National Report‘s disclaimer page notes that:
National Report publisher Allen Montgomery has also stated to the legitimate press that in no way should anyone construe the National Report as real news:
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/swatted.asp#iQGXRWHAekbDtk74.99
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