Infiltration for pervasive online harassment
On a Tuesday, authorities from various federal regions carried out operations, driven by persistent online cyberbullying and harassment amongst digital gamers. The prey for these actions were ten suspected leaders of the cybercriminal group New World Order, as declared by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). They're being charged for singling out gamers from the live streaming community and tormenting them through social media platforms.
On the following day, the BKA revealed that the accused usually picked on "fragile or intellectually challenged" individuals for bullying, intending to embarrass and drive them away from their online persona. Ten houses were raided that morning in Berlin, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, and Brandenburg.
Based on the BKA, several electronic storage systems and related equipment were taken away in those searches, slated for investigation as evidence. New World Order is a solely online group that self-organizes on the web.
As per the BKA, the organization's techniques include feigning emergency calls to victims' homes and broadcasting the situations on live streams. Experts classify this as "swatting." Additionally, the suspects attempted to gather personal information from the victims and reveal it during online game broadcasts, together with hate speech and emblems of unlawful organizations.
This investigation is being carried out by a joint effort between the BKA and a specialized unit of the Frankfurt am Main General Prosecutor's Office focused on internet crimes. The authorities asserted their commitment to tackle any form of threat, exclusion, and hate speech seen on the web.
Following the raids, members of New World Order were reportedly found to use the tactic of "swatting" as part of their cyberbullying campaigns. In response to the operation, more than a dozen devices and related equipment were seized for further investigation.
