George Soros’ Hamptons Estate Targeted in Latest Fake 911 Prank

By: Ellen Cans

Billionaire George Soros’ lavish estate in the Hamptons was swatted over the weekend, becoming the latest target for the 911 pranks.

As reported by the NY Post, Southampton police received a 911 call shortly before 9 p.m. on Saturday, with the caller telling cops he had just shot his wife at the Southampton mansion and was contemplating shooting himself.  Police were rushed to the posh home but found nothing, per police sources.  The call turned out to be fake, Southampton Police Detective Herman Lamison said Monday.  “Spoke to security, searched the premises. It was [a] negative problem,” one cop responding to the scene reported, per a recording of police radio obtained by The Post.  The police and Lamison did not identify the home as Soros’, but sources for The Post confirmed that it was the 93-year-old billionaire’s Long Island estate, located on Old Town Road.  It is not known if Soros or his family members were home when the police arrived.

The tasteless prank is part of an ongoing line of phony calls to police, reporting crimes at a specific address — targeting a series of high-profile persons.  In another similar incident on Friday, police in Virginia responded to the home of Jonathan Turley, George Washington University legal scholar, following a fake 911 call to Fairfax County police that someone had been shot at the address.  “Yes, I was swatted this evening,” Turley said in a statement. “It is regrettably a manifestation of our age or rage.”

Also, on Dec. 25, police were dispatched to the home of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), due to another phony 911 call from a man who said he shot his girlfriend, per the Post.  That same day, which was Christmas, four other Georgia lawmakers were also swatted, namely Republican state Sens. John Albers, Kay Kirkpatrick and Clint Dixon, and Democrat Kim Jackson, along with a sixth target, upstate New York GOP Rep. Brandon Williams.

Last week a long list of other politicians were similarly swatted with bogus 911 calls targeting: Democratic Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu, Ohio Republican US Rep. Kevin Miller, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, US Rep. Rick Scott (R-Fla), and Georgia GOP Lt. Gov. Burt Jones whose home got a bogus bomb threat.  “These criminals wasted the time & resources of our law enforcement in a sick attempt to terrorize my family,” Scott wrote on X.

“Swatting” is unfortunately becoming a popular hoax with individuals using “spoofing” technology to make it appear that the emergency call is actually coming from the victim’s phone. Making fake 911 calls, diverts police efforts and funding and slows response times in the event of a real emergency.  It is a serious punishable crime, with a maximum penalty of life in federal prison, per former U.S. Attorney for District of Kansas, Stephen McAllister.

“The FBI looks at these crimes as a public safety issue,” said Kevin Kolbye, an assistant special agent in charge in the FBI’s Dallas Division. “It’s only a matter of time before somebody gets seriously injured as a result of one of these incidents.” In 2009, a 19-year-old prolific phone hacker was caught and sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for a years-long swatting conspiracy.  Fox News reported that in recent days, following the incessant spate of hoax calls to the police, lawmakers in several states have been working to enact laws.