(FOUNTAIN, Colo.) — A dangerous trend on social media recently caused panic for one family in Fountain, after the entire police department responded to their house. It’s called the ‘AI Homeless Man Prank”, but police say there is nothing to joke about.
It all started on Wednesday, Oct. 15, when a mother called 911 after receiving a text from her daughter stating that a strange man was in her house. 10 Fountain police officers and several detectives were sent to the home on reports of a burglary.
“Originally, there was no response from anyone,” Lisa Schneider, Fountain Police Department’s Public Information Officer, explained. “So at that point, the situation is now amping up even more because there’s no response. There’s a strange person in the home. Officers were preparing to do whatever they needed to do to get inside that home.”
According to the police, the daughter, who is an adult, eventually came to the door and said it was a prank. Police are now using the incident to remind the community to be mindful of what they do online.
“If your kid has a cell phone, if they have social media, you’ve now made them age appropriate to have that discussion as to what is safe and what is not safe and what the consequences could be,” Schneider said.
Fountain Police shared a photo on its Facebook showing an example of what the mom received, and it’s a trend taking over social media.
Fountain police say people use Artificial Intelligence (AI) altered photos, appearing to show an intruder, as a way to prank people.
“Pranks are fun, but this is more serious than just a prank,” Schneider explained. “Could this eventually lead to a fake active shooter situation? Right? If it’s so easy to impose any type of image into a background, right? That’s a possibility, which is frightening for us because that’s a huge response.”
Some people reacting on Facebook said, “My son did this to me last week. Husband went and got the gun, and thankfully, my son said, ‘No, it’s just a joke’.” While others criticized the police department’s response on Wednesday, saying, “I think you should cover why every available officer was dispatched, but it takes hours to get officers to actual emergencies.”
The Fountain Police Department is responding, saying their response was so large because they had more to go off of than just a report of an intruder. “There was proof,” Schneider said. “There was a photo of a strange person in the home, and they’re not supposed to be there. The mom couldn’t get a hold of her daughter, and we want to send as many resources as we can for a situation like that.”
Police warn the community that if the trend continues, you could face charges depending on the situation.
“This is the first that I’ve been made aware of in Fountain, and I didn’t find anything within the state of Colorado yet, so we’re lucky to be the first, I guess,” Schneider said.
Fountain Police does not currently train officers on how to identify AI, but says it is something the department will look into.
“We don’t have the time to filter, which is why we want to educate people to do that filtering themselves,” Schneider said.
