Swatters are using AI voices to deceive 911 dispatchers, and it's only getting worse

Swatting calls using AI means fake 911 calls are harder to detect Swatters are increasingly using AI technology that creates synthetic voices or sound effects to generate remarkably believable fake emergency calls to law enforcement.

A dispatcher with Anne Arundel County Fire Department answers a 911 emergency call from their department dispatch center in Glen Burnie, Md., in 2020. 911 dispatchers have long dealt with swatting calls, where callers report a bomb threat, mass shooting or some other kind of life-threatening emergency with the intention of initiating a massive emergency response. Now, AI-generated voice calls are posing a new challenge.

In August, a caller made a bomb threat to Wheatland Union High School in Yuba County, Calif.

Police responded overnight and classes were canceled. There was no bomb and no one was hurt.

Authorities said it was part of a series of hoax calls — also called swatting — made to schools across the country over the summer.

Swatting calls can be made to 911 or police departments, with callers reporting a bomb threat, mass shooting or some other kind of life-threatening emergency with the intention of initiating a massive emergency response, according to the FBI .

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