A man from Wales was part of a dark web network who encouraged others to commit incidents of "swatting" at and in the USA and Canada. This involved false reports being made which resulted in hotels being evacuated and armed police turning up at the of innocent people.
Callum Dare, 26, served as an administrator on an online network which came to the attention of the FBI following a number of "swatting incidents", an act of harassing a victim by triggering an armed police response to that person’s location, based on a false report of an emergency, in order to gain a "thrill or notoriety".
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday heard a hotel in Cardiff was evacuated after nail bomb threats were made to a WalesOnline journalist and a university in LA was evacuated due to threats of bombs being placed under chairs. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime here .
While Dare was not the person who made the hoax calls, he actively encouraged "swatting" on the online network and posted compilation footage of armed police turning up at people's homes following false reports.
Prosecutor Emma Harris said South Wales Police were contacted by the FBI in 2019 an investigation conducted by the bureau's field office in Memphis, Tennessee.
The investigation focused on a website on the dark web named Doxbin, active in the UK, USA and Canada, and a chat channel named DeadNet.
Both Doxbin and DeadNet involved a network of people interested in swatting and doxing, a term used when an individual's personal details such as their address are posted online with a view to harassing the victim.
The network held lists of individuals, some of which had a firearm emoji by their names to indicate they had been "swatted"
Ms Harris said: "The prosecution say in such malicious content of swatting, Callum Dare assisted or encouraged."
The court heard Dare went under the pseudonyms "Chans" and "KT", and took part in conversations where he encouraged others to participate in incidents of swatting on several occasions.
Many of these videos were located on the defendant's electronic devices following his arrest.
In such a video, an American woman who had been the victim of a swatting incident said: "You're sick in the head, you need to stop, it's sick and disgusting. Once they track back to you, whoever you are, the false reports someone being stabbed, you better believe I'll be pressing charges."
A bomb hoax took place in Cardiff on December 17, 2018, when a man with a muffled voice called Wales Online and claimed there were nail bombs and hostages at the Sandringham Hotel in St Mary Street.
This resulted in the hotel being evacuated and the surrounding area closed off while the incident was investigated, causing "disruption and panic". A compilation video of news footage and articles the incident, with a cover of "Do They Know It's Christmas ? containing racial slurs soundtracking the video, was found on Dare's devices.
The defendant also posted a video a swatting incident at the University of California in LA when a person with a Russian accent called the LAPD and claimed there were bombs under seats in a lecture hall. The university was evacuated but no bombs were discovered.
Another incident saw a bomb hoax made at an American university during protests against "far-right political commentator" Milo Yiannopoulos speaking at the institution.
Ms Harris said: "The defendant continued to post video montages swats he had undertaken to encourage others to dox individuals with a view to making malicious calls, resulting in those individuals being swatted."
In March or April 2019, Dare was said to have taken credit for a swatting incident relating to a live streamer who had an American SWAT team turn up at her address, with a video of the incident found on the defendant's electronic devices..
A coder in Canada was also targeted when armed police turned up at his when someone claiming to be at the address said they had shot their girlfriend, taken hostages and had explosives.
As a result of that incident, an investigation by the authorities in Canada and the USA received the chat logs for Doxbin and DeadNet.
They discovered an administrator, with the usernames Chans and KT, was based in Wales and information was passed by the FBI to South Wales Police.
The force were able to link the websites to a PayPal account and an email address which led them to Dare and his .
The defendant was arrested and his electronic equipment were seized, which resulted in a ZIP file named The Man in Onion.
This was found to be complex phishing fraud software, used to target marketplaces on the dark web. If users entered their credentials into a targeted marketplace, the software could access victims' cryptocurrency wallets and give the defendant access to cryptocurrency.
Dare, of Llys Catwg, Talbot Green, later pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of malicious communications and possession of articles for the use in frauds. The court heard he is of good character.
In mitigation, defence barrister Peter Donnison said his client was a teenager at the time of the offences, and highlighted he was not the perpetrator who directly carried out the swatting incidents.
He said the defendant had become involved in the offences through his interest in coding. Mr Donnision said his client has mental health difficulties and has been diagnosed with severe ADHD, autism, and low borderline IQ.
The barrister said the delay in the case reaching court was "extraordinary" and said his client considered the offences "the biggest regret of his life."
Sentencing on Tuesday, the Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: "You intended on causing harm which could have been widespread and serious, particularly in countries where law enforcement and members of the public regularly carry guns."
The judge acknowledged the defendant's difficult background, of him suffering abuse and neglect as a child and his use of alcohol and amphetamines from a young age.
But Judge Lloyd-Clarke said a "deterrent sentence" was required in this case and she would pass an immediate custodial sentence.
Dare was sentenced to a total of two years and three months imprisonment.
Following the hearing, Louisa Robertson of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Callum Dare put people in danger by encouraging the triggering of armed police responses, for his own thrills.
“When false alarms like this are raised, it is often multiple emergency services that are involved, drawing them away from people who genuinely need them.
“The international cooperation of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in different jurisdictions allowed the Crown Prosecution Service to build a strong case against Dare, showing how far reaching his criminality was, leaving him little choice but to plead guilty.
“I hope the sentence today deters others from carrying out these criminal acts.”
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