What is Swatting? Tom Cruise, Justin Bieber and Clint Eastwood have been swatted. But what does that mean?

BY: IRENE ZUTELL

SOURCE: GETTY IMAGESCruise, a swatting victim.

Every era has its nutty trends. From bathtub gin to raccoon coats to permanent waves to streaking and now, swatting. In case you've missed it, swatting is when some prankster calls in a fake emergency — hostage situation, explosion, something of that nature - giving the actual address of a celebrity. The payoff is watching dozens (hundreds?) of cops, firemen and SWAT (hence the term, 'swatting') teams respond to a hoax. It's really stupid and really dangerous, as it diverts personnel from genuine life-threatening situations. It is a misdemeanor or a felony in most states to report any untruth to law enforcement.

So far, celeb victims of swatting have included Justin Bieber, Tom Cruise and most recently, Clint Eastwood.
All of which has to make you wonder. Could swatting become the new status symbol? How long until some B or C-list celeb - or some ultra-insecure A-lister gets miffed that so-and so got swatted and what am I, chopped liver? Right now, there's probably some struggling PR flack offering his desperate client a novel way to grab some press. He's looking for a public phone that's not in view of a gas station security camera. Or he's buying a throw-away cell phone.

But oh what a tangled web we weave. Here's the rub: when Tom Cruise was swatted, how many uniforms showed up at his estate? Answer: a whole bunch.

Let's say - oh, we won't mention any names, but just pick any former TV-star now appearing on any crummy reality TV show - that's right - that guy - yeah, him. When HE gets swatted, how many uniforms show up at his more modest, non palatial digs? If you think emergency personnel aren't as curious as the rest of us and therefore likely to say -- yeah, I wanna rescue Tom or Justin or Clint - and even though they're about to end their shift they jump aboard the hook & ladder or ambulance or armored personnel carrier just for a look see — you're naive.

So somebody out there is probably grading the swattings. How many emergency types showed up, how fast and at what hour?

And how many real emergencies are being ignored?

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