WASHINGTON: Startled by nighttime pounding on his door, American political strategist Rick Wilson walked out in his underwear to find policemen with guns drawn. They were responding to yet another hoax, increasingly seen as a tool of intimidation in a crucial election year.

In recent months, election workers, judges, and politicians – on both sides of the aisle – have been “swatted”, a potentially deadly prank when a caller triggers a large law enforcement response after reporting a false violent crime.