Romanian man pleads guilty to orchestrating online 'swatting' campaign against US lawmakers, including an ex-president

https://www.theblaze.com/news/romanian-guilty-swatting-president-community

CARLOS GARCIA

JUNE 02, 2025

The man reportedly organized an entire community of hoax bombers. 

The U.S. Department of Justice said they had secured a plea agreement from a Romanian man who is accused of organizing "swatting" attacks against lawmakers, including a former U.S. president. 

26-year-old Thomasz Szabo was extradited in November to the U.S. to face charges that he led an online community that targeted about 100 lawmakers with "swatting calls," hoax calls to law enforcement authorities.'This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas.' 

Szabo would encourage members of the online community, beginning in late 2020, to make bomb threats and other hoax calls to police in order to provoke a dangerous law enforcement response to the target's home, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia. 

Officials said Szabo and his co-conspirators would target "government buildings, houses of worship, and private residences, including the homes of senior government officials."

He would go by various online monikers, including “Plank,” “Jonah,” and “Cypher." 

“This defendant led a dangerous swatting criminal conspiracy, deliberately threatening dozens of government officials with violent hoaxes and targeting our nation’s security infrastructure from behind a screen overseas,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This case reflects our continued focus on protecting the American people and working with international partners to stop these threats at their source.”

Among the incidents attributed to Szabo by the DOJ were a mass shooting threat against New York City synagogues in Dec. 2020, as well as a threat to detonate explosives at the U.S. Capitol to kill the president-elect in Jan. 2021. The members of the online community went after members of Congress and their families, senior officials of the executive branch, members of the judiciary, state government officials, religious institutions, and some members of the press.