Swatting is a prank call made to emergency services into sending an emergency response team. Over the past few years some prankster who think they're funny have been 'swatting' celebrities, the latest victim is Tom Cruise.

According to TMZ police 'swarmed' Cruise's house after a call was made to police claiming falsely that an 'armed intruder' was inside and that shots had been fired. It was only a cook and some security guards that were at his home at the time though, so Tom hasn't actually been disturbed. 

According to the LA Times in recent months Charlie Sheen, Miley Cyrus, Simon Cowell, Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber have all also been the victims of 'swatting'. A twelve year old boy apparently got into trouble with the police after making hoax calls for Justin Bieber and Ashton Kutcher, plus an array of local businesses. The boy had created a clever system of being able to call the police using a system also used by the hearing impaired to call emergency services, but from his computer. "He is very clever with computers and could be applying this in a positive way," the police said at the time.

Police were called to Cruise's property late last year after an intruder on the grounds of his home was apprehended by security guards on the property, it turned out to be a drunk neighbour thinking he was returning to his own home.