Cardi B and her husband Offset have reportedly fallen victim to the rising trend of ‘swatting’ hoaxes.
Swatting is the criminal act of deceiving emergency services into sending out law enforcement or medical aid to someone’s home. Often, reports are heinous and extreme, such as terroristic acts (hostage attempts, bomb threats), murder or severe mental health concerns.
Yesterday (January 8), TMZ obtained body cam footage of an August 2023 incident, where a dispatched SWAT team went to investigate an alleged shooting at the rapper couple’s Sandy Springs, Georgia home. The police were greeted by Offset’s uncle, Derrick Cephus, on the driveway, who called his nephew and told him, “Someone said Cardi got shot.”
Offset was confused, replying, “Yo, bro, my girl? We out here in Los Angeles. That’s some fake fan calling, that’s fake.”
The rest of the video shows Offset, Cephus and the police discussing the hoax call. The ‘Set It Off’ rapper tried to argue that the police did not have the right to be on his property without a warrant, however – due to the nature of the allegation – the SWAT team said that they were in the right.
The now-estranged couple are a part of a long list of celebrities affected by swatting pranks. Last year, Nicki Minaj‘s home was surrounded by armed police twice. The artist has now taken legal action against the alleged hoax caller, Stephanie Bell.
In recent years, swatting has been prevalent in the gaming community. The most popular streamer to be swatted is Adin Ross, who has been targeted over 10 times in the last two years. Last month, fellow streamer iShowSpeed was swatted twice in one week after buying a new house.
There have been other streamers who have been affected, such as Alliestrasza who was handcuffed alongside her whole family while livestreaming. Clara ‘Keffals’ Sorrenti was also raided while broadcasting, before she claimed it was the latest in a campaign of transphobic harassment she has experienced.
Last July, a man was sentenced to three years of community service for ordering a SWAT raid on Ubisoft’s Montreal office. Allegedly, the swatter said he’d blow up the building if they paid him $2million (£1.5million) in ransom.
In other news, Cardi B publicly announced her and Offset’s separation last month. Fans thought she was lying after being spotted hosting a New Year’s Eve event with her husband. However, she said via an X/Twitter Spaces live broadcast that the duo still “need to work on [their] shit.”
