The damage suffered is of the order of 25,000 euros corresponding to the 42 interventions throughout France caused by the phone calls of teenagers. The latter incur up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros for apology for terrorism formulated during their hoaxes.
“The Sarcelles police station (Val d’Oise) was nice: it only asks for one euro in damages” comments Colonel Bertrand Michel, commander of the research section of Lille-Villeneuve d’Ascq, behind the arrest of two young people from the Hauts-de-France region and a young person from Saint-Malo (Ille- et-Vilaine).
According to the colonel of the gendarmerie, one of the three authors of these hoaxes, then 17 years old at the time of the events which occurred in February 2020, had evacuated a high school in Sarcelles with a bomb threat.
The idea: “always going further to sometimes be proud of having brought in elite units such as the GIGN or the Raid. That’s swatting (1)” specifies Bertrand Michel. “They made us several times the blow of the terrified young person, of the type: I am 14 years old my father took aim at my mother I hid and I heard shooting”.
Unfortunately for them, investigation techniques are evolving and have made it possible to trace them back, despite the spoofing (2) put in place.
If the origin is a telephone prank, the consequences can be significant. “Initially, it comes from a geek culture, from video games: in 24- or 48-hour games, sometimes one of the online players had the police intervene at his opponent’s house to be able to win the game. But this can take on greater proportions. serious”.
With the hoaxes, several offenses were retained. The most important: “apology for terrorism”, punishable by 5 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. Threats of crimes against persons punishable by 3 years and a fine of 45,000 euros.
Of the 42 facts listed, the authors recognized 28, including facts of false alarm to the attack on the municipalities of Baisieux and Cysoing. They are summoned before the courts of Saint Malo and Lille on September 8 and 14, 2022.
(1) Swatting : Swatting is an anglicism designating a telephone prank which consists in trying to trap police services, while remaining anonymous, by making them believe in the need for an emergency intervention, in general in an individual, to harm him . In the USA, the Swatt are the elite units that intervene: in France the Raid or the GIGN.
(2) Spoofing : Spoofing consists of usurping an electronic identity to hide one’s own identity and commit crimes on the Internet.
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