Overview

• A user known as Gores told WIRED he co-leads Purgatory and claimed responsibility for many recent hoax active-shooter calls targeting universities.
• Researchers with GPAHE and Marc-André Argentino provided recordings and screenshots of Discord livestreams and Telegram chats coordinating the calls, including an Aug. 21 session with about 41 listeners.
• The spree began Aug. 21 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Villanova University and has reached at least 19 confirmed hoax calls, with attempts also reported at Bucknell and the King of Prussia Mall.
• Purgatory advertises paid swatting services that rose from roughly $20 to about $95 during the spree, and Gores claimed around $100,000 in earnings, a figure WIRED has not independently verified.
• The FBI is investigating the incidents as part of a national rise in swatting, and prior federal cases in 2024 against earlier Purgatory members resulted in guilty pleas.