A fake swatting call was made to the Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' home. A man called emergency services saying he broke into a house, which turned out to be Bellows' home.

A fake emergency call to police resulted in officers responding Friday night to the home of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows just a day after she removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause.

She becomes the latest elected politician to become a target of swatting, which involves making a prank phone call to emergency services with the intent that a large first responder presence, including SWAT teams, will show up at a residence.

Bellows was not home when the swatting call was made, and responding officers found nothing suspicious.

    • MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world
      91·
      10 months ago

      Problem is there’s a ton of legitimate VoIP. My brother had a VoIP home phone for years because it costs next to nothing. Police can’t just not go to a call because it’s a VoIP call.

    • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
      11·
      10 months ago

      They can spoof the phone number so it’s a phone number associated the address.