Cosmo the God

June 1, 2016

Mir Islam – the Guy the Govt Says Swatted My Home – to be Sentenced June 22

This post was originally published on this siteOn March 14, 2013 our humble home in Annandale, Va. was “swatted” — that is to say, surrounded by a heavily-armed police force that was responding to fraudulent reports of a hostage situation at our residence. Later this month the government will sentence 21-year-old hacker named Mir Islam for that stunt and for leading a criminal conspiracy allegedly engaged in a pattern of swatting, identity theft and wire fraud. Mir Isam Mir Islam briefly rose to Internet infamy as one of the core members of UGNazi, an online mischief-making group that claimed credit for hacking […]
February 17, 2017

Men Who Sent Swat Team, Heroin to My Home Sentenced

This post was originally published on this siteIt’s been a remarkable week for cyber justice. On Thursday, a Ukrainian man who hatched a plan in 2013 to send heroin to my home and then call the cops when the drugs arrived was sentenced to 41 months in prison for unrelated cybercrime charges. Separately, a 19-year-old American who admitted to being part of a hacker group that sent a heavily-armed police force to my home in 2013 was sentenced to three years probation. Sergei “Fly” Vovnenko, in an undated photo. In a letter to this author following his arrest, Vovnenko said […]
September 25, 2017

Canadian Man Gets 9 Months Detention for Serial Swattings, Bomb Threats

This post was originally published on this siteA 19-year-old Canadian man was found guilty of making almost three dozen fraudulent calls to emergency services across North America in 2013 and 2014. The false alarms, two of which targeted this author — involved phoning in phony bomb threats and multiple attempts at “swatting” — a dangerous hoax in which the perpetrator spoofs a call about a hostage situation or other violent crime in progress in the hopes of tricking police into responding at a particular address with deadly force. Curtis Gervais of Ottawa was 16 when he began his swatting spree, which […]
January 2, 2018

Serial Swatter “SWAuTistic” Bragged He Hit 100 Schools, 10 Homes

This post was originally published on this siteThe individual who allegedly made a fake emergency call to Kansas police last week that summoned them to shoot and kill an unarmed local man has claimed credit for raising dozens of these dangerous false alarms — calling in bogus hostage situations and bomb threats at roughly 100 schools and at least 10 residences. Tyler Raj Barriss, in an undated selfie. On Friday authorities in Los Angeles arrested 25-year-old Tyler Raj Barriss, who is thought to be known online as “SWAuTistic.” As noted in last week’s story, SWAuTistic is an admitted serial swatter, and was even […]