The latest wave of false reports about the bombing of buildings in Russia and several other countries was organized by members of online communities who are fond of such "pranks", the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) found out. The creator and administrator of these communities is a student from Ukraine. According to the FSB, the suspects reported the mines to extort money, shake up the situation in the country, or simply for the sake of hooliganism. Suspects spread false information about mining via the Internet in late 2021 and early 2022. They warned about the alleged danger to educational facilities, health care, authorities and administration, and transport infrastructure. Institutions were hit not only in Russia, but also on the territory of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, as well as the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
The organizers of mass mailings about bomb threats are now wanted by the FSB, the police and the investigation. Despite their efforts to remain anonymous on the Internet, the security forces have already identified 14 people.
“Fourteen members of online swatting communities involved in the dissemination of deliberately false reports of mining operations were detained,” the FSB said.
Cases were brought against them under Parts 2 and 3 of Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (knowingly false report about an act of terrorism committed against social infrastructure facilities; the same act committed in order to destabilize the activities of government bodies). The suspects face a sentence of three to eight years in prison.
In addition, the authorities will calculate the material damage from the actions of intruders. The perpetrators or their parents will be required to compensate him.
Law enforcement officers were also able to find out who is behind the creation and management of groups on the Internet through which the authors of false reports of mining communicated.
“The organizers and administrators of [svatting online communities] were Ukrainian citizen Osipchuk Anton, born in 2003, a native of the Volyn region, as well as his accomplices,” the FSB said.
As established by the security service, Osipchuk is studying at the Faculty of Information Security of the National Technical University in Kiev.
“Swatting” is a deliberately false message about some kind of threat, which is made to force the police or other law enforcement agencies to leave with a check at the specified address. The caller might, for example, report a hostage situation or a bomb threat. The term "svatting" is derived from the English abbreviation SWAT - the so-called police special forces in the United States, which leaves on a call in case of emergency.
The FSB noted that the authors of false reports about mining are doing this "in order to destabilize the situation in the Russian Federation and neighboring states, extort money and out of hooligan motives."
On the FSB video, one of the suspects, in particular, said that he participated in the "mining" of buildings for money. “My friends, after they found out (that their acquaintance was connected with false mining), began to give me orders for this, on what day to false mine the school. After that, I accepted payment, transferred to other people - and the orders were fulfilled, ”the young man said.
According to the suspect, he started doing this after he joined one of the swatting groups on the Internet. He learned about the existence of this community from another online group. “A man offered me to do this, that is, to try to falsely mine my school. I agreed to this,” the detainee described.
The FSB continues to search for those involved in the mass distribution of false reports about mining. “Despite the measures taken by the destabilizers to anonymize their activities on the Internet, they will be found and prosecuted,” the security service stressed.
bbabo.Net