Duo Hacked Into Ring Accounts To Live Stream Swatting Incidents: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — Two men involved in a nationwide "swatting" spree made a series of bogus police calls and hacked into a dozen ring home security cameras to live stream the police response, federal prosecutors announced Monday in Los Angeles. The suspects allegedly used the Ring systems to taunt police as they arrived on the scene and further the hoax, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The alleged swatting and hacking spree took place in November of 2020 when the suspects were teenagers.

Kya Christian Nelson, 21, of Racine, Wisconsin, and James Thomas Andrew McCarty, 20, of Charlotte, North Carolina, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to intentionally access computers without authorization. Nelson is further charged with two counts of intentionally accessing without authorization a computer and two counts of aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

They used compromised yahoo accounts to gain access to people's home security systems, according to the indictment. With the doorbell camera feeds live-streaming on social media, the suspects called police department's around the country to report shootings, stabbings and hostage situations at the homes of their victims, prosecutors allege.

One of the incidents involved victims in West Covina, according to prosecutors.

"On November 8, 2020, Nelson and an accomplice accessed without authorization Yahoo and Ring accounts belonging to a victim in West Covina. A hoax telephone call was placed to the West Covina Police Department purporting to originate from the victim’s residence and posing as a minor child reporting her parents drinking and shooting guns inside the residence of the victim’s parents," federal prosecutors allege in a written statement.

"Nelson allegedly accessed without authorization a Ring doorbell camera, located at the residence of the victim’s parents and linked to the victim’s Ring account, and used it to verbally threaten and taunt West Covina Police officers who responded to the reported incident."

Prosecutors allege Nelson and McCarty gained access to Ring home security door cameras over the course of one week in November of 2020. The pair got unauthorized access the username and password information for Yahoo email accounts belonging to victims throughout the United States, according to the indictment.

If convicted of conspiracy, each man as much as five years in federal prison.

The swatting incidents triggered an FBI warning for people with smart home devices with cameras and voice capabilities to use choose unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication.