Fortnite World Cup Champion “Swatted” After Anonymous Police Report

Remember the Pennsylvania teen who made headlines after winning $3 million in the first Fortnite World Cup? He’s made headlines again, but not for a good reason!

Apparently, he has an impersonator! Upper Pottsgrove Police was called and the person on the line said that they were Kyle Giersdorf, the teen, and that “he had shot his father multiple times” which thankfully was untrue.

Giersdorf was doing a Fortnite livestream on his Twitch channel when the incident occurred. Twitch is a popular streaming software that lots of gamers use to broadcast their games on. Kyle has a verified profile and calls himself a “professional Fortnite player”.

Giersdorf’s stream was still live when his dad came into the room to speak with him. His friends overheard him asking his father, “I got swatted?” and disappearing from the stream.

Swatting is when someone uses your computer’s information to figure out your home address. Then, the person calls emergency services anonymously and claims that they’re in an emergency, pretending to be you. The crime they pretend happened is usually very serious, which causes a SWAT team to be dispatched to your home address.

Once back on the livestream, Giersdorf reported that he was a victim of this circumstance. A SWAT team was dispatched to his home and “came in with guns” . Thankfully, no one had been in harmed in this situation and everyone was reported safe. Hopefully, police can track down the caller.

Swatting is a serious offense and can be punished severely by the law.