Tag Archives: Curtis Gervais

Teen on Musk’s DOGE Team Graduated from ‘The Com’

February 7, 2025
155 Comments

Wired reported this week that a 19-year-old working for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was given access to sensitive US government systems even though his past association with cybercrime communities should have precluded him from gaining the necessary security clearances to do so. As today’s story explores, the DOGE teen is a former denizen of ‘The Com,’ an archipelago of Discord and Telegram chat channels that function as a kind of distributed cybercriminal social network for facilitating instant collaboration.

Canadian Man Gets 9 Months Detention for Serial Swattings, Bomb Threats

September 25, 2017
57 Comments

A 19-year-old Canadian man was found guilty of making almost three dozen fraudulent calls to emergency services across North America in 2013 and 2014. The false alarms, two of which targeted this author — involved phoning in phony bomb threats and… Read More »

Teen Arrested for 30+ Swattings, Bomb Threats

May 12, 2014
141 Comments

A 16-year-old male from Ottawa, Canada has been arrested for allegedly making at least 30 fraudulent calls to emergency services across North America over the past few months. The false alarms — two of which targeted this reporter — involved calling in phony bomb threats and multiple attempts at “swatting” — a hoax in which the perpetrator spoofs a call about a hostage situation or other violent crime in progress in the hopes of tricking police into responding at a particular address with deadly force.