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Emergency number: Abusive calls can have criminal consequences
Photo: David-Wolfgang Ebener / dpa
Without there actually being an emergency, a man is said to have made around 300 false emergency calls to a rescue control center on Saturday night.
As the Bad Kissingen police station announced, the fake calls were received by the control center in Schweinfurt during the period in question. The caller always ended the calls, which were always made from the same cell phone number, at the exact moment they were accepted. By locating the location of the cell phone, the police located a suspect in Bad Bocklet in the Bad Kissingen district.
The 42-year-old is suspected of having overwhelmed the rescue control center with abusive emergency calls for days, the statement continues. His cell phone was confiscated. An investigation is being initiated against the man for misusing emergency calls in several hundred cases.
Not an isolated case
Most recently, shortly before Christmas 2023, an unknown person triggered large-scale operations by the police, fire brigade and rescue services in Lower Franconia by simulating emergencies, such as a burst gas pipe, using an emergency app. At that time, investigations were initiated “on suspicion of misusing emergency calls and faking a crime.”
There are also repeated reports of so-called swatting. This is the name given to fake emergency calls that are used to simulate emergencies, for example among online celebrities. The streamer Kilian Heinrich, known under the pseudonym Tanzban, reported to SPIEGEL in 2023 about more than 50 cases in which unknown people made such calls and ensured that emergency services arrived at his home.
According to the police, making fake emergency calls – often via an app – is a criminal offense. "Anyone who intentionally or knowingly misuses an emergency call must not only expect criminal consequences, but also the imposition of the costs of the operation at any time."
mak/dpa