> The hoaxes are called "swatting," a term that refers to calls that falsely report an act of violence in progress or about to occur. They are intended to set off a massive and immediate deployment of armed law enforcement to a specific target, including SWAT teams. The results can be quite dangerous, as they were in a fatal incident in 2017, when police swatted a man in Wichita, Kansas. (emphasis added)
Edit: It also isn't clear what the author means by "originates overseas". Their facts on consistent with the final VPN hop being in Ethiopia, but their analysis assume the user was there.
It's disappointing that they didn't ask whether the fake caller had an American accent or similar, though they did refer to incongruities in the report such as specifying a kind of weapon which is not popular or typically associated with mass shootings in the US.
> The hoaxes are called "swatting," a term that refers to calls that falsely report an act of violence in progress or about to occur. They are intended to set off a massive and immediate deployment of armed law enforcement to a specific target, including SWAT teams. The results can be quite dangerous, as they were in a fatal incident in 2017, when police swatted a man in Wichita, Kansas. (emphasis added)
Edit: It also isn't clear what the author means by "originates overseas". Their facts on consistent with the final VPN hop being in Ethiopia, but their analysis assume the user was there.