A spree of swatting incidents at nearly 200 Jewish synagogues and schools last week is believed to be a connected effort by foreign actors, according to a confidential FBI memo.
“Swatting,” named for the elite police groups specializing in high-risk operations, is when an individual or group of people make a misleading or false report to emergency services in an attempt to draw numerous armed authorities to a specific place.
The memo, obtained by ABC News and reportedly sent to partner law enforcement agencies, said more than 30 of the FBI’s 56 field offices are working to investigate the string of false reports.
“At this time, based on similar language and specific email tradecraft used, it appears the perpetrators of these threats are connected,” Assistant FBI Director Cathy Milhoan wrote in the memo. “Additionally, these threats appear to be originating from outside of the United States.”
None of the reports, which mostly consisted of bomb threats, were founded, she said.
The nonprofit Secure Community Network (SCN) tracked 199 threats to Jewish institutions on Friday and Saturday across the country. Nearly three-quarters of the reports were in California and Arizona.
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