Washington: Fearing a midnight knock on the door, American political strategist Rick Wilson strips down to his underwear to find an armed police officer. They are responding to another scam as a tool of intimidation in a busy election year.
In recent months, the potential death threats have sparked major protests from law enforcement after election officials, judges and politicians on both sides of the aisle reported committing violent crimes.
Shenanigans are gearing up for the highly anticipated November rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, which observers say is fraught with threats of election violence, foreign influence and disinformation.
“There were probably a dozen police around the house with AR-15s,” said Wilson, a former Republican strategist and founder of the Lincoln Project.
The previous exchange experience had Wilson stumbling out of his Florida home with his hands in the air and saying, “I’m suffocating,” prompting police to back off.
Wilson told AFP he had offered a $25,000 reward for information on the perpetrators, but so far no one has come forward.
Several cases of political figures followed a similar post and raised suspicions that it was joined: An actor called 911 saying he had shot his wife or his girlfriend was planning to commit suicide.
These words are enough to determine the response of the police.
In January, Georgia’s top election official, Gabriel Sterling, was fired hours after he posted online about bomb threats to several state capitals.
That’s because she called 911 and falsely reported a “bad drug deal” at her home, he said.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said it was “deeply disturbing” to see the rate increase.
“We expect tensions to rise as we head into the big presidential election,” he told AFP.
The FBI said it prosecuted nearly 600 prostitution cases in the country last year, indicating that crime is on the rise.
The number of reported crimes involving politicians and election officials is not yet known, but some high-profile targets have raised concerns.
Among those targeted in recent months are Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw the federal trial involving Trump, Jack Smith, the former president’s special counsel who oversaw the two cases, and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Grein.
Swatting, named after the heavily armed SWAT teams often deployed to combat emergency situations, first appeared in the early 2000s. It has been used to harass celebrities and the online gaming community has also targeted each other.
But election officials seem at risk as they prepare for a potentially volatile election.
A Law Enforcement Internet Security Center report said mass attacks by law enforcement on polling agents or polling stations could “disrupt” the election process and “undermine” confidence in the democratic system.
A task force created by the Department of Justice in 2021 has reviewed more than 2,000 complaints of hostility, harassment and intimidation of election officials, leading to dozens of investigations, according to US media.
Several states in the US, including Georgia, have passed laws to strengthen penalties against swindling.
In January, lawmaker and Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, passed legislation to introduce the penalty, making the sentence up to 20 years in prison if someone was seriously injured in the attack. The move came after a phone call was made at Scott’s home in Florida.
But arrests have so far been rare.
Experts say technology such as artificial intelligence tools, such as text-to-voice programs that allow criminals to imitate voices, have helped.
Encrypted messaging apps, VPNs, or virtual private networks also make them harder to track.
“This is a computer-based crime,” Justin Smith, a member of the Safe and Secure Elections Committee, told AFP.
“The ability to track these people is very difficult,” he said, urging election officials to notify local law enforcement agencies to reduce the risk.
US ‘swatting’ pranks stoke alarm in election year
