Three Brits charged with making hoax ‘swat’ calls to US and Canadian police after FBI investigation
30 April 2025, 15:38
Three British men have been charged with making hoax calls to US and Canadian police, an activity known as swatting.
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Liam White, 23, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and Dylan Ash, 18, from Warrington, Cheshire, are facing three counts of conspiring together and with others to do a series of acts tending or intending to pervert the course of justice.
Keiron Ellison, 18, from St Helens, Merseyside, has been charged with two counts of the same offence.
They will all appear at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Thursday May 1.
Detective Sergeant Steve Frame from Merseyside Police, said the charges come following an "extensive" investigation between Merseyside Police and US law enforcement, including the FBI.
He added: “They relate to the online activities of an internet based group between October 2022 and April 2023, which (allegedly) planned, advertised and carried out calls to emergency services and internet celebrities reporting fabricated serious, life-threatening incidents, ‘active shooter threats’, to prompt an emergency response.”
The FBI defines “swatting” as a malicious tactic of making hoax calls or reports to emergency services, typically feigning an immediate threat to life, and intending to draw an armed response, such as a Swat team.
