Man took over Ring cameras and taunted California officers in swatting spree, feds say
A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty to hacking Ring doorbell cameras in a one-week swatting spree that caused armed police officers to respond to southern California resident’s homes, federal prosecutors said.
Kya Christian Nelson, 23, and others involved in what prosecutors described as a nationwide scheme, took over homeowners’ Ring security cameras and made fake emergency calls in November 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
When police officers responded to the reported emergencies, Nelson taunted and threatened them, prosecutors said.
The police responses were livestreamed online, according to prosecutors.
“In this case, we learned bad actors used stolen customer email credentials obtained from external (non-Ring) services to access other accounts, and took immediate steps to help those customers secure their Ring accounts,” a Ring spokesperson said in a statement to McClatchy News on Jan. 27. “We also supported the FBI in identifying the individuals responsible.”
A federal defender representing Nelson didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
Cops responding to fake calls evacuate homes at gunpoint
Nelson and his co-conspirators accessed Ring cameras by figuring out usernames and passwords to homeowners’ Yahoo email accounts, prosecutors said. Then, they logged into their Ring accounts, according to prosecutors.
During one of the swatting incidents, Nelson accessed a Ring account at a home in West Covina, about a 20-mile drive east from Los Angeles, on Nov. 8, 2020, prosecutors said.
Then, the West Covina Police Department received a call from someone who pretended to be a minor and reported her parents were “drinking and shooting guns” inside the West Covina home, according to prosecutors.
They also told police that the parents had several guns and fired seven gunshots, prosecutors said.
The report caused armed West Covina officers to arrive at the home and evacuate everyone inside at gunpoint, according to prosecutors.
While officers were there, Nelson threatened and taunted them through the Ring doorbell camera, prosecutors said.
A few days later, Nelson similarly logged into a Ring account belonging to a resident in Oxnard, about a 60-mile drive northwest from Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.
“Nelson or a co-conspirator made a hoax call to the Oxnard Police Department purporting to be coming from inside the victim’s home,” prosecutors said.
While posing as a child, the caller told police that their father was armed with a handgun and was wielding it inside their home, according to prosecutors.
Nelson then called the Oxnard Police Department reporting shots were fired at the home, prosecutors said.
This caused officers to respond and clear “residents from the home at gunpoint,” according to prosecutors.
Nelson also threatened and taunted the Oxnard officers while accessing the home’s Ring camera, prosecutors said.
Now, Nelson, of Racine, Wisconsin, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and two counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
He’s currently serving time in a Kentucky state prison in connection with a separate case, prosecutors said. He’s been detained in federal custody since August, according to prosecutors.
“The defendant’s malicious actions traumatized his victims and put their lives — and the lives of responding officers — at risk,” Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in the release. “Swatting hoaxes drain crucial law enforcement resources at the expense of taxpayers and diverts police officers from responding to actual crisis situations.”
“This case is a good reminder for security doorbell users that it’s important to practice strict cyber hygiene by using difficult passwords and by employing two-factor authentication,” Davis added.
One of Nelson’s co-conspirators, James Thomas Andrew McCarty, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in Arizona in connection with the swatting scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
An attorney who represented him didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
“We take the security of our customers extremely seriously—that’s why we made two-step verification mandatory, conduct regular scans for Ring passwords compromised in non-Ring breaches, and continually invest in new security protections to harden our systems,” the Ring spokesperson told McClatchy News.
“We are committed to continuing to protect our customers and vigorously going after those who seek to harm them.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Man took over Ring cameras and taunted California officers in swatting spree, feds say."
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