Racine man indicted, Ring doorbell swatting scheme
RACINE, Wis. - A Racine man was indicted in a nationwide Ring doorbell "swatting spree," along with a man from North Carolina.
According to federal prosecutors, Kya Nelson, 21, of Racine and James McCarty, 20, of Charlotte, North Carolina (who lived in Arizona at the time), hacked Ring doorbell cameras and then called the police, taunting responding officers and live-streaming the response.
Both men were charged with one count of conspiracy. Nelson was also charged with two counts of intentionally accessing without authorization a computer and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Federal prosecutors say between Nov. 7 and Nov. 13, 2020, the men got the username and password for Yahoo email accounts for the victims. They then determined whether the Yahoo usernames and passwords were the same that were used to control the victims' Ring doorbell cameras. They were then able to gain additional information about their victims.
They are then alleged to have called law enforcement to the victims' homes, verbally taunting responding police officers and victims through their Ring devices.
Close-up of Ring doorbell, equipped with a camera and machine learning capabilities, installed outside a home in the Marina Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, October 21, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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In one case, they allegedly called 911 and pretended to be a child reporting that her parents were drinking and shooting guns inside their home.
Federal prosecutors say such crimes occurred in Michigan, California, Montana, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, Alabama, Florida and Texas.
These crimes prompted the FBI to put out a PSA in late 2020 warning about Ring cameras and urging people to use two-factor authentication to secure them.