Overview

• University of Georgia, University of West Georgia and Clark Atlanta University briefly locked down on August 29 after false active‑shooter reports, with officials later confirming no threats.
• More than a dozen universities have received similar hoax calls over the past 10 days, including Texas Tech, Iowa State, Colorado Boulder, Northern Arizona and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
• The FBI has prioritized resources for these cases and uses the National Common Operational Picture – Virtual Command Center to share real‑time data across agencies.
• Investigators say swatters often exploit VoIP, spoofed numbers, VPNs and AI voice cloning, and some calls include recorded gunfire to heighten urgency.
• Authorities warn that tracing perpetrators can take months, though past cases show successful prosecutions, including overseas arrests and a U.S. teen sentenced to four years for serial swatting.