What Is Swatting? Paris Hilton Joins The Kardashians As Latest Swatted Hoax Victim
Paris Hilton can now be counted in the same ranks as Tom Cruise and the Kardashians as she became the latest victim of a swatting hoax when police were falsely summoned to her California home on Saturday, TMZ reported.
Law-enforcement sources told the celebrity website that a call to police was made at 5:22 p.m. PDT saying someone was in the heiress’ home. In the case of the 32-year-old socialite, it wasn’t mentioned during the call whether the assailants were armed, as it has been in other celebrity swatting cases.
When police entered Hilton’s home, they did not find any evidence anyone had been there, and because the blond bombshell is believed to have been in Miami at the time, she was out of harm’s way.
The Los Angeles Police Department is still investigating, TMZ said. The term swatting comes from SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics} teams being deceptively sent to celebrities' homes due to bogus reports that their homes had been robbed.
Swatting is a new trend to hit Hollywood and has taken Los Angeles by storm. Of course, the prank is not only senseless but also illegal.
A 12-year-old boy who pulled a swatting prank on “Two and a Half Men” star Ashton Kutcher in early February is now facing two felony counts. His name was not released to the public because of his age.
Justin Bieber, Chris Brown and Clint Eastwood also appear on the well-populated swatted list.
One Daily Mail commenter believes if celebrities didn’t get special treatment swatting wouldn’t be a problem: “They'll never send SWAT to a regular person's home for a burglary call. Maybe it's time to stop the special treatment for these celebs.”
And another thinks some fame-obsessed celebutants could be narcissistic enough to fake robberies of their own homes: “Actually ... everything is so staged in their lives that I bet Paris and the Kardashians made the call themselves.”
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