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Ryan Seacrest Is the Latest Victim of "Swatting" Prank
Add Ryan Seacrest to the list of celebrities who've been victims of a "swatting" prank — where jokesters call 911 to report a (fake) incident and have officers sent to the celeb's home. In Seacrest's case, the caller said armed men were shooting their way into Seacrest's home in Beverly Hills Wednesday afternoon, CNN reports. Police arrived and left after speaking with the American Idol host.
Add Ryan Seacrest to the list of celebrities who've been victims of a "swatting" prank — where jokesters call 911 to report a (fake) incident and have officers sent to the celeb's home.
In Seacrest's case, the caller said armed men were shooting their way into Seacrest's home in Beverly Hills Wednesday afternoon, CNN reports. Police arrived and left after speaking with the American Idol host.
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Other celebs who've been targeted in similar instances include Paris Hilton, Chris Brown, Ashton Kutcher and the Kardashian family.
The Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies are investigating the calls to try to determine where they're coming from. And dispatchers are being trained to identify SWAT calls so that unnecessary resources aren't being wasted on pranks, CNN reports.
"The problem with crying wolf is that sometimes it's not false, so we always have to respond accordingly but cautiously," L.A. County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told CNN.