Hungarian and Romanian Police Detain Young Hackers over Fake Threat Calls Hungarian Conservative

pHungarian police in cooperation with Romanian authorities have taken action against four young hackers suspected of making false and intimidating phone calls the National Bureau of Investigation of the Rapid Response Police announced on MondayppThe investigation began in midJuly last year after several police units received reports within days of one another about alleged serious crimes Callers threatened bomb attacks against educational and religious institutions and residential buildings as well as killings and attacks on police unitsppThe cases involved swatting meaning false reports of serious crimes made to trigger police responses and doxing in which personal data was disclosed online to intimidate victims The false reports required the deployment of significant police resourcesppInvestigators established that the suspects had contacted their victims via the Discord platform where disputes developed between users Following these online arguments the perpetrators obtained personal data and phone numbers belonging to their counterparts and used this information to file false reports with the authoritiesppCybercrime investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation and officers from the Nagykanizsa Police Headquarters were assisted by the Counter Terrorism Centre When it became clear that one of the suspects was based in Romania Romanian police also joined the investigationppAfter extensive investigative work authorities identified four suspects a 17yearold Romanian citizen living in Bihor County a 16yearold boy from Kisvárda an 18yearold man from Nyíregyháza and a 20yearold man from BudapestppOn January 20 a coordinated operation was carried out simultaneously at three locations in Hungary and one in Romania Arrests and searches were conducted in Budapest Nyíregyháza Kisvárda and Bihor County with Hungarian and Romanian officers working together The Counter Terrorism Centre supported operations at all Hungarian locationsppPolice seized data storage devices mobile phones and computer equipment from the suspects and carried out data extractions from their online accountsppThe 16yearold suspect questioned in Kisvárda was formally charged with making threats endangering public safety He denied the allegations and remains at liberty The Romanian suspect was questioned as part of the Hungarian investigation and faces charges including terrorism making threats multiple counts of false accusation and misuse of personal data He is also not in custodyppThe legal status of the remaining two suspects has not yet been clarified Authorities said their roles will be determined following the analysis of seized information and equipment The unified investigation will continue under the National Bureau of InvestigationppRelated articlesppHungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspectivep