Hoax phone calls to police departments or suicide hotlines say that a man is considering killing himself and others or that a bomb has been placed in a building. The address given belongs to a synagogue that is livestreaming its services so that the callers can watch in real time as the police interrupt the services and deal with frightened worshippers.

The practice is called swatting, referring to police SWAT teams that generally are dispatched in true life-threatening situations. Dozens of these calls are occurring in states across the country, according to the Anti-Defamation League, including at least five in New York City in a single week in August.

Oren Segal, director of the ADA’s Center on Extremism, told The New York Times that swatting calls pose a different type of threat than more typical antisemitic acts, such as graffiti or slurs. “ It’s the thousands of people who are anonymous, that are watching, that are getting excited by what they’re seeing and that may be animated to take it to the next level,” he said.