Heavily armed Emergency Task Force officers stormed a Toronto apartment early Thursday morning after receiving a call that a family was being held hostage.
The 911 caller said three masked men were holding the victims against their will inside the Vesta Drive building, near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue West.
But when officers entered the unit at about 4:30 a.m., the three residents were sound asleep in their beds.
"After about five minutes of searching the apartment, they realized that it was a prank call," said resident Aubrey Cottle, who was awoken alongside his girlfriend and mother.
Cottle, 21, said an Internet stalker somehow managed to call 911 using his cell phone number.
Police and are still trying to find the person behind the hoax.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby
