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Police departments in several US states are warning citizens against using the AI-generated photos and videos of a fake “homeless man” entering people’s homes. The officials say the viral prank has triggered emergency calls that waste police resources because it is “stupid and potentially dangerous.”
The homeless man trend began circulating on platforms like TikTok and Instagram in early October. It is an AI generated, realistic image or clips of an unfamiliar man entering a home and going through the refrigerator, lying in bed, or lounging on a couch.
Pranksters have been sending the AI-created content to friends or family to convince them that a homeless man has broken into their home. The hyper-realistic nature of the imagery has caused panic among unsuspecting recipients, leading several people to call 911 in distress.
AI hoaxes cause wastage of police resources
According to The New York Times, police departments in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin have received emergency calls reporting home intrusions that later turned out to be AI hoaxes.
Responding officers arrived at homes lights flashing and sirens blaring, only to discover that no crime had occurred. Departments say these false alarms waste public resources and put officers and civilians at risk.
The Salem Police Department in Massachusetts issued one of the first alerts earlier this month after receiving several 911 calls linked to the AI prank.
“Besides being in bad taste, there are many reasons why this prank is, to put it bluntly, stupid and potentially dangerous,” the department said in a statement. Salem officials also warned pranksters that filing a false emergency report is a criminal offense in the state, carrying penalties of up to two and a half years in jail or fines of up to $1,000.
The department condemned the trend for “dehumanizing the homeless,” saying that it mocks a vulnerable group while endangering the public.
In New York, the Yonkers Police Department took to Facebook to post an AI-generated image demonstrating the prank, saying they had already responded to several calls.
“Officers are responding FAST to what sounds like a call of a real intruder, and only getting called off once everyone realizes it was a joke,” the department wrote. “That’s not just a waste of resources for officers responding and risky for the family members at home if our officers rush into the home to apprehend this ‘intruder’ that doesn’t exist.”
AI deception leads to arrest in Maryland
Authorities in Maryland have already made an arrest connected to the viral prank. Police in Montgomery County said 27-year-old Moesha Gardner of North Bethesda was taken into custody after allegedly staging a fake home invasion using AI-generated photos.
According to the department, Gardner claimed in a text to her husband that an intruder had forced his way into their home after she opened the door on October 8. Her husband called 911 while Gardner sent him a photo that appeared to show a man lying on their couch under a blanket. Investigators determined the image had been created using artificial intelligence.
Gardner was arrested on October 10 and charged with making a false statement on an emergency or crime, alongside providing false information to a state official. She was later released on a $10,000 unsecured personal bond, police said.
“These actions carry serious legal consequences. Falsely reporting crimes or creating fake emergencies wastes valuable resources and can endanger the lives of both officers and civilians,” the Montgomery County Police Department asserted.
Police departments are urging social media users to think twice before sharing or creating AI content and using it for pranks. In several statements, officials noted that “swatting,” the act of making false emergency calls to provoke an armed police response, has already caused several deaths in the US.
“I look at it like a new version of swatting. It’s a really, really terrible idea,” reckoned Salem PD’s Captain Burke.
The NY Times also mentioned that AI has been used in a prank circulating on social media, featuring fabricated images of muscular, shirtless plumbers inside bathrooms and kitchens. Women have reportedly been using the photos to provoke jealous reactions from their partners.
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