During a regular Monday on August 25th, 2025, all of the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus buildings were shut down and evacuated by authorities. All students were advised to stay inside during the investigation. Many students, already outside or moving outside, were wandering campus, confused as police vehicles arrived on scene. One question was on everyone’s mind: What was happening?
Shortly before 5 p.m., emergency services nearby CU received a call from a “distressed student”, who said they were in Sewall Hall, a first-year dorm, and had heard gunshots in the direction of the Norlin Library. Immediately, emergency responders took action by issuing a shelter-in-place warning to the entire campus, and a heavy police presence arrived. However, despite remaining for the rest of the evening, no evidence or belongings of a shooter or possible infiltrant were found.
This gave the campus authorities a lot more to investigate, such as the real threat and where they were, considering there was no active threat and no signs of there ever being one. An investigation was immediately launched, trying to figure out what exactly happened. The next day, the Denver FBI issued a statement that CU was a part of a national wave of swatting calls.
A swatting call is a malicious act where a person or group of people call emergency services to file a false report of a serious crime or incident, such as a bombing or shooting. As it turns out, many colleges across the nation had similar incidents recently. With this knowledge in mind it was discovered the cybercriminal group “Purgatory” was responsible for more than 20 swattings across the nation in August and September, including the one at CU. This group offers many different kinds of illegal activities for a price, such as school swattings and slashings. In the timeframe between August and September, several different schools were also swatted. Some examples include:
As the investigation continues, the FBI and other authorities hope to figure out and eventually take action against Purgatory. While it is still unclear whether or not they will be found and justice will be served, schools remain on edge about more potential threats. The FBI encourages citizens across the country “to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”
