Swatting calls haven’t stopped for a Sanford family: What you can do to protect yourself
SANFORD, Fla. - The swatting calls keep coming for one Florida family, and they are doing whatever they can do to defend themselves from more cyber attacks.
"It’s quite an annoying thing now," said Elijah Tackett.
Police have shown up to the Tackett’s home four times for fake swatting calls at all hours of the night. The most recent call came just after our story aired on Friday.
"We got a call here," asked the Seminole County Deputy knocking on their door.
Police even had to do a well-being check at Elijah’s work because of the call.
"It’s just kind of a thing I just want to stop. Get back to a regular life not having to worry about it happening again," said Elijah
Elijah tells us he had clicked on a link sent to him on the app Discord from someone he thought he could trust. The link was a phishing scam.
"Once I clicked on the link, they were not only able to get all my logins that led to how they found my address and the swatting happening but also my entire computer," said Elijah.
Security experts say the best way to kick out the hackers once they get in or prevent the attacks from happening is to get multi-factor authentication.
"Multi-factor authentication is getting text messages sent to you with a code," said CEO of Computer Business Consultants Clinton Pownall. "It’s annoying, and it’s frustrating, but it’s also going to add the extra layer of security."
Pownall also advises using different usernames and password combinations.
"Once they’ve brute force attacked or gained access through those credentials they just start trying everything out there including your financial bank accounts," said Pownall.
Sanford Police are still investigating and do have some leads. If the suspects are caught, the Tacketts plan to press significant charges.
"My son has changed all of his passwords. There’s even talk of even pulling his hard drive out and throwing it away. Just starting all over again," said Bill Tackett.