Russell Brand Falls Victim to SWATTING Prank

The swatting epidemic continues, and this time, the victim is Russell Brand.

According to TMZ, someone called 911 giving fake info to the dispatcher that there were two armed men, one was black and the other was white, heading to Russell's home. The caller said the suspects were sporting body armor each.

When cops arrived to the scene, no one was there -- Russell had left the home 30 minutes prior to the call. After a thorough inspection of the property, cops eventually determined the whole thing was a prank -- another "swatting" incident.

Swatting pranks started happening a lot in 2012. At the end of the year, a 12-year-old boy was arrested in connection with incidents involving the homes of Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber. Even after the boy was detained, the pranks didn't stop.

P. Diddy, Paris Hilton and the Kardashian family were targeted in the similar fraudulent calls earlier this year, before the prankster(s) targeting Miley Cyrus and Simon Cowell last year moved on to the likes of Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Selena Gomez.

It's called swatting because the prankster(s) usually succeed in tricking police into sending SWAT force to respond to their fake distressed calls. LA Times says LAPD is trying to crack down on the practice by training dispatchers to identify possible crank callers. Also, California lawmakers are considering tougher penalties for swatting.