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16-Year-Old from Canada Arrested for Swatting

He’s believed to be behind the Twitter account @ProbablyOnion

May 12, 2014 07:39 GMT  ·  By
Canadian teen arrested for swatting
   Canadian teen arrested for swatting

A 16-year-old boy from Ottawa has been arrested by Canadian authorities on suspicion of making prank calls known as swatting. 

Swatting is the term used for pranks in which the prankster calls emergency services with a fake story, in many cases bomb threats or hostage situations. These types of pranks are becoming more and more common.

In the case of the Canadian teen, he’s a resident of Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. The teen hasn’t been named due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The Ottawa Police Service believes that he’s involved in at least 30 cases of swatting in North America. He has been charged with a total of 60 criminal offenses, including utter death threats, public mischief, conveying false information with the intent to alarm and mischief to property.

Canadian authorities have cooperated with agencies in the United States on the investigation. Data transmission and communication devices have been seized from the suspect’s home. Police also seized firearms and ammunition for public safety.

The suspect is believed to be the Twitter user known as ProbablyOnion (@ProbablyOnion2). He has been involved in swatting for months. The hoax calls targeted various entities, including security expert and investigative journalist Brian Krebs.

According to Krebs, ProbablyOnion started sending him “rude and annoying messages” on Twitter on March 9. On April 10, he attempted to swat Krebs. However, since it wasn’t the first time someone had attempted to swat him, local authorities called the reporter before sending a team to his house.

The suspect asked anyone who wanted someone swatted to reach out to him. One of his targets was the Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School in Milton, Ontario, the Ottawa Citizen reported. He called 911 and told the operator that explosives were placed near the school.

ProbablyOnion’s second attempt to get Krebs swatted took place on May 7. This second attempt also failed. On the same day, someone published a document on Pastebin, claiming that ProbablyOnion was one Curtis Gervais, 19, from Ontario. At the time, the prankster only noted that he wasn’t 19 as the document in question revealed.

On May 9, he posted a few tweets highlighting the fact that authorities still hadn’t tracked him down. Those were the last messages posted on the ProbablyOnion account. Shortly after, the Ottawa Police Service announced the arrest.

The youth’s attorney has told the Ottawa Citizen that his client denies doing anything wrong.