North Bethesda Woman Charged After Pulling 'AI Homeless Man Prank' On Husband

NORTH BETHESDA, MD — A North Bethesda woman is facing charges after police said she participated in a growing social media trend that uses AI-altered photos to mimic a home invasion.

Moesha Gardener, 27, is charged with making a false statement concerning an emergency or crime and providing a false statement to a state official following the Oct. 8 incident, Montgomery County police said in a statement.

According to police, officers responded to her home in the 5000 block of McGrath Boulevard after receiving a call about a burglary.

Police later learned that Gardener informed her husband via text messages that an unknown man had forced his way into their home after she answered the door, authorities said. Her husband called 911 to report the alleged break-in.

While officers were on their way to the home, police said Gardener sent her husband a photo appearing to show a man lying on their couch, covered by a blanket. Her husband relayed this information to the dispatcher.

As a result, police said "approximately eight marked police cruisers, with emergency lights and sirens activated, responded during daytime traffic at high speed to the address."

When police arrived, officers and Gardener’s husband found her alone, sitting on the couch. A cell phone mounted on a tripod was aimed at the front door.

According to police, Gardener then admitted to sending the messages and photo as part of a prank. She also said she had used AI to generate the image of the made-up intruder.

Gardener was arrested two days later and taken to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit. She was later released on a $10,000 unsecured personal bond.

"Calling 911 to report a false crime is illegal," Montgomery County police said in a statement. "So-called 'swatting' calls, false reports made to trigger a large police response, waste valuable emergency resources and can put lives at risk. These actions carry serious legal consequences."

The Montgomery County Police Department is one of numerous agencies nationwide warning about the "AI Homeless Man Prank," which has been gaining popularity on social media platforms such as TikTok.

According to a CBS News report, the trend involves someone using artificial intelligence-based photo manipulation techniques to create fake images of an intruder inside a home, with the intent "to scare family or roommates."

A report by People cited one TikTok video with 65,000 views, where a frantic mother pleaded via text for her daughter to call the cops after the young woman shared images of a man standing in their kitchen and sleeping on the couch.

Another video with more than 880,000 views showed a terrified father calling his son 21 times after he shared videos of a man with a straggly beard using the dad’s toothbrush and sleeping on his bed, People reported.

At least one police department has slammed the videos, calling them "stupid" and "in bad taste."

“This prank dehumanizes the homeless, causes the distressed recipient to panic and wastes police resources,” wrote police in Salem, Massachusetts. “Police officers who are called upon to respond do not know this is a prank and treat the call as an actual burglary in progress thus creating a potentially dangerous situation.”