Doxing And Swatting On The Rise In Parts Of Illinois, Iowa And Wisconsin

A growing trend not just in larger parts of the Midwest, but the entire United States has the FBI warning parents about online privacy. It seems like kids know way more about the internet than we do. Sadly with that knowledge comes confidence. Kids may feel safe online thinking they know it well. This can lead to them accidentally releasing information about themselves. This information leak can then result in doxxing, or even worse... swatting.

Swatting Problem In Midwest

Just recently the FBI took to X (formerly Twitter) To warn about this growing issue. While anyone can be a target, the FBI went into deeper detail on people who are targeted more often. Stating,

especially LGBTQ+ youth, racial minorities, and those who struggle with a variety of mental health issues, such as depression and suicidal ideation

What Is Doxxing

In short, doxxing is the result of someone leaking all your private info onto the internet for others to see. The full answer is as follows,

Doxxing (also spelled “doxing”) is the act of revealing someone’s personal information online. Doxxing is a form of online harassment that means publicly exposing someone’s real name, address, job, or other identifying info without a victim’s consent. The aim of doxxing is to humiliate, bully, harass, or otherwise harm a victim.

What Is Swatting And How Is It Happening In Illinois and Iowa?

In short, Swatting is using info gathered about you to make a fake police call claiming something bad is happening at the location you are currently at. The full answer is as follows,

Swatting is a criminal harassment act of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a mental health emergency, such as reporting that a person is allegedly suicidal or homicidal and may or may not be armed, among other things