Steve Carell had his home surrounded by heavily armed police and SWAT teams from the Los Angeles Police Police Department earlier this week, but not because he is actually a drug barron or was being held hostage, no instead the comic actor found himself as the latest victim in yet another swatting prank. Well, it wasn't actually him who was the but of the joke as initially though, it was actually music mogul and Carell's neighbour P Diddy who was the intended victim of the prank, but that didn't stop the LAPD from getting a little confused (not for the first time this year) and storming both homes.

Diddy’s swanky L.A. home was invaded by more than a dozen police cars and two helicopters following the prank call being placed to a local dispatcher and although it was initially believed that Carell was the intended victim, it turns out Diddy was the prankster's main target. Police later announced the reason behind their annexing of Carell's property, revealing that they simply had nowhere else to go after completely surrounding the Diddy estate and the reason they invaded Carell's home was because they allegedly wanted to wanted to secure the location.

Swatting has become a popular pursuit for pranksters of late and involves a person making a hoax phone call to police, telling them that armed gunmen have entered someone's home and often adding that shots have been fired. On December 10 last year (2012), police arrested a teenage boy who they claimed had pulled a similar swatting prank against actor Ashton Kutcher and singer Justin Bieber. Due to the ongoing popularity the prank has conjured up, police are taking the issue increasingly more seriously and have warned potential swatters that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law when caught.

P Diddy
P Diddy was the intended victim of the swatting prank