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Someone Is Sending Fake Distress Calls Off the OC Coast
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter at work (Racheal Grazias / Shutterstock.com)
It's the nautical version of swatting: Someone has been sending fake distress calls of the Orange County coast, and the U.S. Coast Guard is not pleased.
"In the last week, a man that the Coast Guard has tracked to Orange County has made six calls over the radio in the last week," L.A. Now reports.
The most recent one came in Friday night, with the man reporting his boat was sinking off Newport Harbor. Not all of them, however, have been about boating, as The OC Register notes:
Coast Guard officials have been suspicious of the calls almost from the outset, [U.S. Coast Guard Lt. S.] Arumae said. In one call earlier this week, the male voice can be heard saying something like, "Mayday, my dog ate my homework," Arumae said.
These calls come with a hefty price tag, since every call is taken seriously. Friday's call resulted in the deployment of "a vessel that costs a whopping $2,600 per hour and a helicopter that runs more than $8,600 per hour." The whole search tallied up to $50,000, payable by the taxpayers.
Additionally, similarly to the strain phony distress calls on land cause local law enforcement, these faux distress calls at sea mean personnel and resources are being used for no reason, while should a real emergency arise, the agency would have a harder time responding.
Authorities are working to determine the identity of the caller, who, if found, could face penalties.
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