Why parents need to know about doxxing and swatting

When a 17-year-old boy was given a custodial sentence for serious online offences, it was a landmark victory for Suffolk Police.

The conviction, which saw the teenager handed a 16-month detention and training order, came after an extensive first-of-its-kind investigation for policing in the county.

Specialist officers found the boy had sexually exploited children, including those in the USA, encouraged serious self-harm and issued death threats over social media.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also engaged with extremist groups and in what is known as doxxing and swatting. But what exactly are they?

The teenager was arrested and charged following an investigation by Suffolk Police's Safeguarding Unit and Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team.

Before being sentenced at Ipswich Youth Court on 29 June, he pleaded guilty to eight offences, most committed in 2025.

These were: two counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm, and four counts of sending threatening communications.

As well as a custodial sentence, he was made the subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The investigation, which saw officers work with international police forces and agencies, found what it described as a "sustained pattern of harmful, targeted behaviour".

Evidence showed the boy was involved in extremist online groups such as the '764' and '1414' groups, whose activity includes coercion and blackmail.

He then used online social media platforms to target vulnerable young people, blackmailing them into harmful and exploitative actions.

On some occasions, these actions resulted in the victims being pressured into setting themselves on fire and cutting themselves to draw blood to use to paint on walls.

He also issued repeated death threats to people in the UK and abroad.

Det Con Alfie Bailey, from the police's safeguarding department, said the boy's actions potentially resulted in some of the victims "having lifelong injuries".

"Even though this was committed online, the harm that the victims were coerced into committing and performing caused very real harm for them," he told the BBC.

"What was uncovered throughout the investigation is that it was a pattern of behaviour and it wasn't a single isolated incident.

"It wasn't a single victim – there was a very large number of victims and we have worked quite hard to identify and bring justice to those victims."

At times, the teenager also took part in doxxing and swatting, which was common practice for online users in the groups he was part of.

These resulted in real-world emergency deployments of police agencies in the USA, causing significant disruption.

Digital examination of his devices identified doxxing files, swatting scripts, searches for victims' home addresses in the USA, and contact details for police departments abroad.

But what is doxxing and the "malicious act" known as swatting?

Hannah Brennan, an investigator in the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team at Suffolk Police, explained.

"Doxxing is obtaining personal and identifiable data about yourself or another person, from all sorts of above-board sources," she said.

"They're able to find out where people live and then can use that information to threaten them into doing something.

"Or, I can say, if you don't give me this information, I will send the police to you and that's called swatting – which is essentially calling the police on someone."

Following the Government's recent pledge to ban under-16s from using social media platforms, it is hoped that young internet users will be safer online.

In cases of doxxing and swatting, however, the perpetrators can be extremely difficult to detect – and it is hard to identify how many of them are operating.

Brennan said they are often part of "hidden, underground and secretive" groups.

"We're hoping talking about this will make them less shrouded in mysticism and we will be able to educate parents and children around the potential harms," she said.

"Ultimately, we can shut down however many groups and apps and social media platforms as we want, but people will always find a way.

"I think the most powerful thing we've got at the moment is education."

That was echoed by Bailey, who said it would be impossible to establish the number of internet users engaging in the activity.

While he did not think parents should be worried, he believed they should at least "be aware as to what's going on".

"We all know the internet can be brilliant, and actually most children probably use the internet safely day in, day out, but it can also be a very dangerous place," he said.

"But parents should ask their children about the games, what platforms they're on, what apps they're using, and [explore] the parental controls on their devices."

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