On Oct. 3, several student organizations across Samford’s campus received a alarming yet misleading message about gang activity. Samford freshman Laurel Beal provided the Crimson with the message.
The message claimed that a task force unit with the FBI and the police department (the department was not identified) had alerted the sender that gangs had entered Alabama counties Jefferson, Madison, Limestone, Lauderdale and Morgan. It also mentioned their arrival in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The gangs are called the BLOOD and MS13. The MS13 are foot soldiers for the cartel” the message stated.
It continued, warning women not to park far away from entrances of buildings and to steer clear of gas stations at night.
“They said they are very bad in Birmingham” the message stated.
It then urged all those reading to pass the message along to any female friends, coworkers and family members.
The message quickly spread by word of mouth and through screenshots to different groups on campus, but the message was false.
When informed of the message, campus public safety officials reacted quickly, alerting those who had seen the message not to spread it to others due to its falsity. Although its content was untrue, the message itself is still cause for concern.
Samford’s Chief Officer Tommy Taylor explained that the message was an example of swatting, which is making a false claim about the occurrence of serious crimes in order to alarm the public, and can result in harm among innocent people. Swatting can include bomb threats, false terrorist attacks, claims that someone has a gun in firearm-prohibited spaces, and inflammatory texts or phone calls like the one received by students on Samford’s campus.
“Part of the reason these messages occur is people are intentionally trying to create alarm, just to make people upset and spread misinformation, like a game of telephone,” Chief Taylor explained.
There’s usually no clear reason behind their motives, but the messages are still dangerous. They often urge those who receive them to share some sort of personal information and use tactics like fear and the false cover of government institutions and programs to gain the trust of their victims.
Once a hacker receives someone’s personal information, it becomes very easy to break into personal accounts like social media profiles and retrieve financial information. Swatting and similar forms of phishing are becoming more and more prevalent, occurring daily on a national scale per the Associated Press.
Chief Taylor urged anyone who receives a suspicious message, whether by telephone, text message, or email, to immediately block the sender and not to open any links related to the message. If you receive any suspicious messages and you are concerned about your physical or digital safety, Samford Public Safety is available 24 hours and can be contacted by phone at 205-726-2020.
