Police headed to Wolf Blitzer's Bethesda, MD., home on Saturday night after a message came in saying that someone at the residence had been shot.
But a dispatcher was skeptical, and it became clear that the CNN host was the latest victim of the "swatting" hoax, in which a person sends a fake urgent message alerting authorities. CNN confirmed that Blitzer was actually out of town over the weekend.
According to The Washington Post:
In the case involving Blitzer, the person or people behind the fraud wrote some form of text message, [Montgomery Police Capt. Paul] Starks said. The message was set up to seem like it was from Blitzer himself, and it included his address. It appeared to have been sent through a mobile phone company’s 'relay' system, which is part of an arrangement to pass on urgent messages to the police’s emergency communications center, Starks said. But exactly where the message originated remains unclear, he said.
Earlier this month, Ryan Seacrest fell victim to the "swatting" hoax just hours after he spoke to Russell Brand, who had been targeted earlier that week. Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Selena Gomez and Sean Combs have also been victims of "swatting."
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