A Romanian man and a Serbian national have been charged with making bomb threats and triggering fake “swatting” attacks on dozens of U.S. officials and lawmakers, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, face one count of conspiracy and multiple counts of making threats regarding explosives and transmitting threats.
“Swatting” originates from the heavily armed SWAT teams dispatched to tackle emergencies in the United States. The law enforcement response is often called out by a caller who reports a false violent crime at a home.
In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Mr. Szabo and Mr. Radovanovic, together with other unidentified conspirators, are accused of carrying out dozens of “swatting” attacks between December 2020 and January 2024.
Some 40 private citizens, 61 official victims, including members of Congress, cabinet-level executive branch officials, senior officials of federal law enforcement agencies and state officials were targeted, the Justice Department said.
The appeals for help to law enforcement included false claims of homicides, suicides, kidnappings and mass shootings.
The pair are also alleged to have made bomb threats against four businesses, four religious institutions and one university.
“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said in a statement. “We will use every tool at our disposal to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable, no matter where they might be.”
Szabo is reportedly in custody.
The indictment alleges that Szabo was the organizer and moderator of chat groups where the conspirators communicated with one another, and that he used the monikers “Jonah,” “Plank,” “Rambler,” and “War Lord,” among others.
Radovanovic used the code names “XBD31,” “Angus” and “Thuggin.”
The FBI tracked about 600 “swatting” incidents in the country last year.
The indictment says that Mr. Szabo told Mr. Radovanovic in December 2023 that they “should direct their swatting activity against victims from both U.S. political parties because ‘we are not on any side.'”
