Celebrities

What is 'swatting' and why is it stopping Adin Ross streams and 'forcing Adriana Chechik to move house'?

What is 'swatting' and why is it stopping Adin Ross streams and 'forcing Adriana Chechik to move house'?
Saugus High School shooting scare likely stemmed from swatting call
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"Swatting" has caused an Adin Ross stream to be interrupted, and porn legend-turned-Twitch star Adriana Chechik previously revealed that she’s being so badly swatted, she’s going to have to move house.

The adult entertainer previously issued a damning rebuke of “beyond childish” pranksters, who have been blighting her life for months.

In a furious tweet, Chechik, 31, explained that the emergency services had been called to her house on 12 separate occasions, as she urged the culprits to “grow up”.

“Y’all suck so hard. I’m gonna have to move with this swatting sh*t,” she wrote.

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“You are literally taking police who should be helping people and having them swat me? 8x and 4x for firefighters to come is beyond childish.”

For the uninitiated, “swatting” refers to a nefarious trend which largely targets streamers like Chechik.

It involves a troll finding out their victim’s address or location and then making a hoax phone call to the emergency services, claiming that there’s extreme violence taking place there.

The idea is to make the lie sound as urgent and threatening as possible to prompt an armed response – hence “SWAT”.

The perpetrator then keeps their fingers crossed that the police will raid the home during the streamer’s broadcast so that they can watch the dramatic action unfold live on camera.

And whilst some would argue that swatting is just an elaborate prank, most will tell you it is, in fact, a dangerous crime that puts lives at risk.

In one high-profile instance back in 2019, a teenage Call of Duty player swatted an opponent after losing a game. Police showed up at the wrong address, then shot and killed a totally innocent father-of-two.

It is also, as Chechik pointed out in her tweet, a complete waste of the emergency services’ time, that should be dedicated to legitimate crises.

One of the most horrific aspects of the 32-year-old’s plight is that she was attacked by swatters even as she recovered from a near-life-threatening injury.

In October last year, she broke her back in two places after jumping into a foam pit at TwitchCon, San Diego, which left her facing months of surgery and gruelling rehabilitation.

She also lost her unborn child as a result of the accident – later revealing that, unbeknownst to her, she was pregnant at the time.

And yet, some of her followers – who seem unfamiliar with the very concept of human decency – decided it would be fun to ambush her.

In December, as Chechik lay bedbound, she tweeted: “Tell me how some internet trolls are gonna swat a person whose back is still healing from being broken. Some twitch chatters are a whole different breed of small d**k idiots.

“The cops know me now. We legit talk about our life because this happens so much.”

Based on her latest complaint, the situation has only escalated since then. But, at least, she suggested action is being taken to find those responsible.

One of her fans responded to her tweet, saying: “Moving I think would only give you a brief respite from the bampots, and then it would start again. Time to get a lawyer and PI involved and start to sue the c**p out of both the city for having inadequate response to being repeat called and the people calling them on you.”

Chechik replied simply: “[Already on it!!]”

Of course, this is not a game, but we hope she nails those swatters once and for all.

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