Lil Wayne is latest star to fall victim to a 'swatting' call

A hoax emergency call at Lil Wayne's house said four people had been shot. Credit: Robin Utrecht/ABACA/PA Images

A call to a non-emergency police line reporting 'four people shot' at rapper Lil Wayne's house in Miami was part of the so-called 'swatting' trend according to police.

"We can say for sure it was a hoax," police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said after a Swat team searched the home in an exclusive island neighbourhood. "We were unable to locate any victims or subjects."

The hoax call trend is known as 'swatting' because Swat which stands for Special Weapons and Tactics officers are often sent to the purported crime scenes.

Authorities say such situations can be dangerous due to the risk of a misunderstanding between police and occupants of a building.

Miami Beach Police posted a tweet confirming that the incident was probably 'swatting' but admitting that it had to take the call seriously in case it was genuine.

Previous 'victims' of similar calls include actors Tom Cruise and Ashton Kutcher and singers Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

Some states in the US are working on legislation to crackdown on the hoax calls including charging pranksters with the cost of the police response which could run into thousands of dollars.