Anderson Cooper is the latest celebrity to fall victim to the recent spate of celebrity "swatting" hoaxes.
A fake 911 call sent police to Cooper's home on Long Island last month, which the New York Post reported on Tuesday. Police arrived at the home in Quiogue after receiving a call claiming a man had shot his wife in the house. When the police arrived, they immediately realized it was a prank.
Cooper was not even home at the time, which is usually the situation in the fake 911 calls that are befalling celebrities and police departments on both coasts, though Los Angeles police departments have received far more calls then New York.
"Swatting" is when a prankster sends a fake, urgent message to the authorities saying there is a serious situation requiring immediate attention, in some cases, even a swat team.
Last week, Wolf Blitzer, the host of the CNN television show "The Situation Room," was the target of the pranksters when police received a call with the familiar scenario that someone had been shot at Blitzer's home in Bethesda, Maryland. That call also turned out to be a prank.
Erick Erickson, a former CNN contributor was a victim of the prank last year, making Cooper the third CNN reporter to be victimized.
The pranks put a strain on the police departments who are using a lot of resources to respond to nothing. The officers who respond to the calls have to thoroughly investigate, even if it is obvious that it's a prank. Lt. Marc Reina of the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles police department faced this situation when he responded to the 911 call at Russell Brand's home. Upon arriving, the police only found a frightened housekeeper uncertain why police with guns were descending on the home.
"She said nothing had happened there, but we still have to search the house to make sure she wasn't sent out to say that," Reina told the New York Times in April.
Previous swatting victims include Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Ashton Kutcher, Russell Brand, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Cruise, Selena Gomez, Rihanna and Chris Brown. Officials intend to take legal measures to end the pranks.
"This is a silly new fad a couple of people are doing," Cmdr. Andrew Smith of the Los Angeles police told the New York Times. "We intend to prosecute them.
"It's extraordinarily dangerous for the officers and the people at the targeted locations," he said.
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