Hacked & Swatted: Bizarre Incident Terrifies Florida Family

Florida family's Ring doorbell camera plays a central role in a frightening "swatting" situation. WBBH's Zach Barrett reports.

NORTH PORT, Fla. (WBBH/NBC News) — Friday was a normal day for North Port, Florida, mother Sarah Courtney until she received a call from a detective at the North Port Police Department.

“I thought it was a joke at that point and I was like, who is this? Why are you calling me?” Courtney recalls. “Then he said, do you have a blue cooler on your front porch? That freaked me out, it made my heart go in my stomach because we do have a blue cooler on our porch.”

Sarah was told to go outside and see if North Port Officers and members of the SWAT team were in front of her home. Police arrived shortly after and spoke with Sarah, and told her that they received a grizzly 911 call that said something awful happened to her.

“They said someone had called them and said they were my husband and said that they caught me having an affair and had murdered me. Killed me,” Courtney says.

As officers were leaving the Courtney residence, hackers began spewing vulgar and derogatory terms at officers through the family’s Ring doorbell camera system.

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