FBI Warns Students to Stay Alert Amid Swatting Hoaxes

By Ifeyinwa Susan Francis

The FBI is investigating a wave of active shooter hoaxes at U.S. universities. These false reports have triggered chaotic police responses as students return to campus.

BBC News reported the incidents on August 28, 2025.

Since that Thursday, nearly 12 universities have been targeted. The hoaxes caused panic as students, parents, and faculty fled.

Authorities say swatting is on the rise. Swatting involves prank calls to emergency services to send in a SWAT team.

In a public statement, the FBI urged everyone to stay alert. “Report anything suspicious to law enforcement immediately,” the agency said.

Villanova University in Pennsylvania received two threats in four days. Student Ava Petrosky was singing at an orientation Mass when people began to run.

“Honestly, at that moment I thought, ‘I’m gonna die,’” she told CNN. She joined the crowd and ran for cover.

Later that day, another hoax hit the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The campus went into lockdown.

“In two seconds, the whole classroom evacuated,” senior Luke Robbins told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

“We ran outside. Cops with ARs [assault rifles] were in the hallways. They told us, ‘Go this way.’ We ran across the street. More police were guiding us there too.

“It was hectic. Just crazy.”

Local media reported similar hoaxes at other schools. These include Iowa State University, University of Arkansas, Northern Arizona University, University of South Carolina, Doane University, University of New Hampshire, University of Colorado Boulder, and Kansas State University.

The FBI did not respond directly to the most recent hoaxes. But the agency told BBC News it is aware of the swatting incidents. It said it is working with law enforcement partners.

“We are seeing more swatting events across the country,” the FBI said.

Each hoax drains police resources, costs thousands, and puts innocent people in danger.

The FBI also said several people have been jailed for swatting. These include a man extradited from Romania, a Wisconsin man who hacked doorbell cameras to livestream a raid, and a 19-year-old American-Israeli who made thousands of threats to Jewish institutions worldwide.

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