Justin Bieber Becomes The Latest Victim Of "Swatting" Prank

It's never a good idea to prank 911, not even to get Justin Bieber's attention.

The L.A. Times reports that an emergency message came to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's Malibu-Lost Hills station at about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday—supposedly from Bieb's Calabasas home—reporting that a person was on the premises with a weapon, officials said.

The new trend, referred to as "swatting," occurs when a person contacts 911 reporting an emergency, resulting in a tactical response with heavily armed officers. However, when law enforcement gets to the area in question, there's no actual emergency at all.

In Bieber's case, the message was delivered via a TTY device typically used by the deaf to type text over the telephone, officials said. According to Sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida, deputies responded to Bieber's home and contacted people on the premises who said they never called authorities.

This is becoming a bit of a problem in the west coast area, specifically for celebrities. Ashton Kutcher's home was recently a victim of swatting after a woman used the same system to report she was hiding in a closet because there was a man with a gun inside, sources said. Also, in August, police were called to actress Miley Cyrus' Studio City home after a caller falsely reported several people were being held hostage after a shooting.

Although this may sound like a brilliant prank for all you jokesters out there, don't get yourself arrested for something stupid.

HollywoodScoop has a video on Biebs...