A Racine man and a man from North Carolina were recently indicted in connection to a nationwide Ring doorbell swatting scheme that spanned over a week in 2020.
Kya Nelson, 21 of Racine, and James McCarty, 20 of North Carolina, were arrested last week on federal charges filed in the District of Arizona, according to federal prosecutors. The two are charged with one count of conspiracy to intentionally access computers without authorization.
Nelson was also charged with two counts of intentionally accessing without authorization a computer and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Nelson is currently incarcerated in Kentucky in an unrelated case.
According to federal prosecutors, in November 2020, the two were able to hack email accounts and then access associated Ring customer accounts across the country. They then called the police and live-streamed the events on social media while taunting responding police officers.
In one incident, the two allegedly called 911 pretending to be a child in California and reported her parents were drinking and shooting guns. Nelson then allegedly hacked the victim's Ring account and used it to threaten and taunt officers who responded.
The other alleged swatting incidents occurred in Michigan, Montana, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Alabama, and Florida.
These series of swatting incidents resulted in the FBI issuing a public service announcement in 2020 urging users to create stronger passwords for protection.
If convicted, Nelson faces a maximum of 19 years in prison.
Ring released the following statement:
"Swatting is a serious crime, and those responsible for it should be brought to justice. In this case, we learned bad actors used stolen customer email credentials obtained from external (non-Ring) services to access other accounts, and took immediate steps to help those customers secure their Ring accounts. We also supported the FBI in identifying the individuals responsible. We take the security of our customers extremely seriously—that’s why we made two-step verification mandatory, conduct regular scans for Ring passwords compromised in non-Ring breaches, and continually invest in new security protections to harden our systems. We are committed to continuing to protect our customers and vigorously going after those who seek to harm them."
