It's hit epidemic proportions—celebrity homes being swatted by prank callers. Now, Ryan Seacrest is the latest victim of the frightening hoax. INSIDE EDITION has the latest.
Ryan Seacrest is the latest victim of "swatting" and it happened just two hours after he spoke about the epidemic on his radio show.
Seacrest said, "This is serious stuff. They're playing with fire in a way. They're saying that there's armed attacks going on."
Seacrest was interviewing comedian Russell Brand, who was himself a victim of swatting on Monday.
Seacrest said, "I wanted to make sure you're okay because I saw that there was a swatting attack on your home."
Brand replied, "I didn't even know that it had happened. But what would be bad would be if the police were attending a swatting and then an actual crime happened and it took the police too long to get there."
Two hours later, Seacrest's Hollywood Hills home was swatted. Someone called 911 saying there were gunshots coming from inside the home that the American Idol host recently bought from Ellen DeGeneres. Police rushed to the scene and determined it was yet another hoax that has been plaguing Los Angeles.
The hoax involves calling in a fake report of an armed hostage situation at the home of a celebrity. In the last six days, Sean Combs, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Selena Gomez have all been swatted.
Today's New York Times calls it "a full blown epidemic."
