The scores of young TikTok tearaways using chaos and cruelty for clicks: Police ‘hunt down’ youths behind Oxford Circus carnage
- Pranksters in the UK, United States and Australia are all chasing online clicks
- WARNING: Explicit language
The criminal chaos on Oxford Street caused by hundreds of youths urged to plunder stores via social media raises yet more questions about the malign influence of internet pranksters.
Gangs gathered around H&M in front of Oxford Circus Station last night, with the mob screaming and running at police who were waiting for them.
Hundreds of officers, including some on horses, were stationed across the area amid fears of wider disorder. It came after a post on social media went viral, inviting followers to ‘rob JD Sports’ and raid other stores. It said there was a ‘dress code’ of balaclavas and gloves, and read ‘don’t come if you can’t run’.
Fights broke out and last night there had been at least nine arrests. Police issued 34 dispersal orders, which gives them the power to exclude individuals from the area around London’s best-known shopping destination.
It came as Essex Police planned to introduce a dispersal order for 48 hours because of an event being planned for Southend-on-Sea. A post urged followers to come to the city’s beach and ‘get lit’ – slang for partying and getting intoxicated.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has called for those responsible for disorder in London on Wednesday to be ‘hunted down’ and jailed.
Sharing a video on X of police making arrests, she posted: ‘We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK. Those responsible must be hunted down & locked up. I expect nothing less from the @metpoliceuk and have requested a full incident report.’
TikTok prankster Mizzy claimed on X he had been stopped and searched on Oxford Street for ‘no reason’ and issued with a dispersal order, insisting in a video he had ‘nothing to do’ with the raid. He was previously arrested for sharing videos of himself stealing dogs and trespassing in people’s homes.
As more people find themselves falling victim to the antisocial ‘click clout’, MailOnline reveals the many social media pranksters sharing videos for online notoriety:
TikTok prankster Mizzy after being stopped and searched by police on Oxford Street yesterday amid today chaos there after a social media post encouraging looting went viral
The carnage in Oxford Street was triggered following a social media campaign to ‘rob JD Sports’. It saw one police officer was seen being punched in the head by a youth amid
In one of his videos posted on TikTok, social media prankster ‘Mizzy’ can be seen saying: ‘Walking into random houses, let’s go’
Name: Bahredin Abdulrahman
Followers: 292,800
Bahredin Abdulrahman approaches a security guard in London and asks him if he wants some ‘beef’ – playing on the street term for violent grudges.
‘Oi big man’, the prankster shouts before approaching the man and beginning his routine in which he accuses him of ‘chatting to his girl’.
Not in the mood to play ball, the security guard instructs the prankster to ‘walk on’.
But the prankster continues his routine, and after thirty seconds of tedium the ‘pay off’ revealed: He meant beef as in the meat.
His channel has videos of a host of other pranks including falling asleep on people on the tube.
Bahredin Abdulrahman approaches a security guard in London and asks him if he wants some ‘beef’ – playing on the street term for violent grudges
Name: Ali_jokyy
Followers: 50,000
Ali_jokyy has over 50,000 YouTube subscribers and promises ‘pranks smoke pranks’.
The last five videos uploaded on the account involve the prankster challenging ‘gang members’ to fights on the streets of Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Sheffield and Leeds.
In each video the prankster explains that when he asks people if they want to get ‘smoked’ he is referring to a cigarette, but the targets of his videos do not know this and are often unnerved and defensive.
In one shocking video filmed in Bradford, the man approaches a group of men and things quickly spiral. As the men circle each other, a mother is seen diverting her children’s eyes away from the scene.
Only after the target has followed the ‘prankster’ into the road does he finally admit that he is joking.
The prankster films himself approaching strangers on the street and creating aggressive situations
Only after his targets have become suitably enraged does the YouTuber finally reveal he is joking with them
Name: Alan and Alex Stokes
Followers: 31.3 million
TikTokers across the pond have also found themselves arrested, like Mizzy, because of their extreme pranks.
Twins Alan and Alex Stokes were arrested after they staged two fake bank robberies in a viral video.
They then jumped in an Uber pretending to be criminals which resulted in the driver – who was unaware of the joke – being held at gun point by police.
The elaborate skit, that took place in Irvine, California, saw the brothers dress in all black, wearing ski masks and carrying duffel bags full of cash.
A witness rang the police reporting a robbery and told them the brothers were trying to carjack the Uber driver.
Orange County district attorney Todd Spitzer said the extreme ‘prank’ had broken the law, adding: ‘These are crimes that could have resulted in someone getting seriously injured or even killed.’
The pair managed to avoid jail in 2021, instead being handed 160 hours of community service and probation.
The twins continue to post videos to their account, many of which are skits or pranks that get millions of views.
Twins Alan and Alex Stokes were arrested after they staged two fake bank robberies in a viral video
The elaborate skit, that took place in Irvine, California, saw the brothers dress in all black, wearing ski masks and carrying duffel bags full of cash
The men then got in an Uber – whose driver did not know he had been dragged into a prank – with officers later holding the driver at gun point
The pair skirting down a railing after pretending to rob a bank
The pair were warned by officials someone could have been seriously hurt or killed
Name: Harrison Pawluk
Followers: 3.6million
Using a different tactic, some TikTokers film themselves appearing to be kind to members of the public – only for it to backfire, instead leaving the victim humiliated.
Australian influencer Harrison Pawluk, 23, has built his brand on approaching strangers in the street, gifting them presents such as flowers or chocolate or even paying for people’s shopping baskets while they are not looking.
One genre of his videos are ‘wholesome’ pranks ‘gone wrong’.
Last year, he was slammed for interrupting a woman called Maree as she drank a takeaway cup of coffee in the Emporium Melbourne mall, asking her to hold a bouquet of flowers.
‘Sorry to bother you, is it OK if you can just hold these?’ he asked. Pawluk then put his backpack on the ground and pulled out a black parka before walking off and leaving Maree with the flowers.
Harrison Pawluk, 23, interrupted Maree as she drank a takeaway cup of coffee in the Emporium Melbourne mall, and asked her to hold the bouquet – before leaving it with her and wishing her a nice day last year
Maree (pictured) who featured in the viral TikTok video receiving flowers from a young stranger said she felt ‘dehumanised’ by the experience
Pawluk, 23, has built his brand on approaching strangers on the street gifting them presents
The video quickly went viral, but Maree said the experience made her feel ‘dehumanised’ and articles about the stunt portrayed her as a ‘pathetic old woman’, slamming the supposed act of kindness.
‘At first it was just a bit of a joke to me and then I’ve sort of felt dehumanised,’ she told Melbourne ABC presenter Virginia Trioli.
‘It really doesn’t even seem like it’s me now, it’s just this person, it’s just not really me, I don’t really even take it personally anymore, but I just think that other women, especially older women should be aware that if it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody.
‘I suppose I am a bit offended, really, to tell you the truth.’
Maree, who doesn’t use social media, said the TikTok portrayal of the incident being a random act of kindness was wrong.
‘These artificial things are not random acts of kindness really,’ she said.
‘It’s really not about me anymore, I just think this whole idea that this is a random act of kindness is to be challenged.’
Maree said she noticed another young man had been filming the interaction.
‘I said, ‘Did you film that? They said, ‘No, no’. They obviously had.’
It was viewed at least 58.8 million times before it was deleted.
Name: Harle Jordean
Followers: 5,360
O’Garro’s sidekick Harle Jordean, 19, was Britain’s youngest chief executive but now goes by the handle Sk1tz on Twitter and films himself punching walls.
READ MORE: TikTok tearaway Mizzy leads gang of yobs into Primark where they trash Oxford Street shop
In a recent video, Jordean is seen approaching a man on the street and asking him to hold his phone.
The confused man agrees to hold the phone and Jordean begins his video announcing proudly that ‘pain is an illusion’ before punching a brick wall and collecting his phone with his swollen hands.
Before becoming obsessed with being a social media star, Jordean was hailed as the ‘ideal kid’ and for his business acumen, with many dubbing him the ‘tiny tycoon’ after establishing Marble King, which sold marbles across the world.
He ran the thriving marbleking.co.uk website for almost five years, selling anything from tubs of marbles to £599 limited edition Duke of York solitaire tables. The company no longer operates.
Name: Arya Mosallah
Followers: 480,000
Arya Mosallah has caused controversy with his videos, some of which show him harassing strangers on the street.
One is entitled ‘Do you wanna die’ and involves two ‘pranksters’ approaching a man on the street and asking him if he wants to die.
The panicked man immediately backs away and says loudly to ‘give me space.’
Undeterred, the men continue approaching their target and repeat their question.
Eventually the tense situation is de-escalated when one of the men pulls out a box of hair dye.
This tactic – deliberately confusing a target with something which sounds like a veiled threats but is actually a play on words – is a common practice in the subculture of online pranking.
In 2018, Mosallah was forced to apologise after he posted videos in which he threw water at strangers on the street, which many likened to an ‘acid attack’.
YouTube removed his previous channel, which had more than 650,000 subscribers, in response. He told the BBC at the time: ‘I’ll push the boundaries until I get a million views.’
In the video a man is approached by prankers who ask him if he wants to die
After he demands they ‘give him space’ the men continue to follow him
PART 1 LOL 😂🤣🤣😂 #funny #prank #baltune #baltunes #roadman #imjustbait #wanna #die #uk #england #prankster #prankchallenge #prankvideo #funnyvideo #part1 #ladbible #grmdaily #itzariya #londontiktok #trending #fyp #fun #fypシ
Name: Frogz
Followers: 57,000
Frogz has 57,000 subscribers on YouTube where he posts films of himself ‘pranking’ people in the street.
In one such instance, Frogz pretends he is a wheelchair user and asks passersby if he can borrow their phone to call a relative.
However, once they have handed over the phone, he suddenly gets up and sprints away, only telling the victim it is a prank after they have sprinted after him.
One man even tripped over the wheelchair as he tried to grab his phone back and appeared to hurt himself.
Frogz later tells his fans: ‘That’s why I’m the best YouTuber on the scene, people are getting mad for no reason. It’s kicking off.’
‘Frogz’ approached members of the public in Leicester Square while pretending to be a wheelchair user
Once the person had handed over their phone, he runs away
Frogz (left) approaches members of the public in London and asks for directions
A more recent video shows him approaching members of the public in London and asking for directions.
He tells viewers: ‘I’m going to act like they [members of the public] are being aggressive towards me even though they’re not. I’m just going to act like they are and make a commotion and a scene.’
The video shows Frogz, who is reportedly 20, asking for directions and then confronting the confused subject of the prank, asking: ‘Why do you want to fight me?’
He accuses them of being ‘aggressive’ and ‘rude’ as he told one man: ‘I know karate man.’
Name: King AR4
Followers: 230,000
This prankster specialises in approaching members of the public in supermarkets and targeting unsuspecting shopkeepers.
King_ar4, who describes himself on his YouTube channel as a ‘local menace’, posts videos of Instagram of himself sneaking up behind people doing their shopping and moans loudly in their ear – before pursuing them around the shop/
Other videos feature him mocking shopkeepers as he asks them questions and then imitates their responses.
In several videos he pretends to be a traffic officer or security guard and threatens to clamp cars unless the owners do things for him, such as give him their phone number.
A post shared by AR4🃏 (@king_ar4)
One man in the video simply made the same sound back at King_ar4
King_ar4 (right) pursues a man around a supermarket, moaning loudly
Name: Lesther Charming
Followers: 560,000
A prankster who goes by the name of Lesther Charming has published a series of videos where he follows strangers and describes what they look like, making cryptic references to ‘making sure the boys are ready’.
READ MORE: TikTok tearaway Mizzy’s sidekick unmasked: Troublemaker’s pal is son of outspoken BLM activist
In one video, he is seen following a man and describing his clothes.
The pedestrian stops and confronts him, asking him who he is and why he is following him.
After a tense few seconds, the ‘prankster’ concedes that it is a joke.
The account, which has almost 560,000 followers on TikTok, has published a series of videos in the same vein that feature awkward and confrontational encounters with strangers.
In one grim video, the man and his accomplice pretend to stab each other in front of a stranger causing him to flee, panicked.
The account describes it as a ‘stab witness prank’.
The prankster often wears a mask while filming.
STAB WITNESS PRANK Full video on youtube #lestherpranks #prank #fyp
Name: G_hender09
Followers: 1,463
Impressionable young people have had their eyes turned by the allure of instant fame on social media and are uploading reckless and antisocial behaviour disguised as pranks.
In one series of videos, a teenage boy films himself wreaking havoc on his neighbours from the anonymity of his high rise tower block.
In one now-deleted clip, the anonymous teenager is seen using a slingshot to launch an apple at his neighbours window which then shatters.
In other clips, the teenager is seen throwing an apple at a car and trespassing in the back of a McDonald’s and a Five Guys.
The anonymous account holder hides behind celebrity names including basketball players Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker.
In another TikTok account an anonymous teenager can be seen throwing water balloons at strangers
Before it was deleted, an account named g_hender09 filmed his antisocial behaviour
In the now deleted video, the teenager launches an apple at a neighbour’s window
The impact of the apple shatters the glass and the video cuts out
THROWING APPLES AT PEOPLE IN PUBLIC PRANK 🍏🔞‼️ #biggestmenace #weoutside #Mizzy #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #uk #viral #trending #sheffield #youtube #apple #throw #prank
Name: Danaldo
Followers: 545
One London-based prankster, Danaldo, who appears to be close friends with Mizzy, posts videos under an alias on TikTok.
Like Mizzy, many of his videos revolve around him behaving antisocially in public places.
In one video, the prankster can be seen excitedly running onto a tube where a commuter is sleeping. He then roars in his face causing the shocked man to wake up and stare at him.
In other videos, he can be seen dancing on a counter at McDonald’s to the confusion of customers and the disgust of the security guard.
Thats a natural born instinct 🤣 #danaldo #viral #fyp
Name: Jayden King
Followers: 500,000
Jayden King’s page has a video entitled: ‘Robbing people’s coats then giving them a new one.’
In the video, three balaclava-clad men can be seen approaching pedestrians in subway tunnels in Birmingham.
The prankster claims his stunt is a ‘reverse robbery’ and many of the people he stops seem unnerved by the situation.
Other videos on his channel include asking people to say the N-word for £100 and ‘picking up girls using Andrew Tate’s advice’.
In the latter, the man approaches a woman and tells her she is giving off ‘milf vibes’.
After being approached by MailOnline, the prankster claimed that he had no defence for his videos, saying they are all ‘fake and scripted’.
In another video three masked men approach a passerby and ‘reverse rob’ his coat
Name: Endrit Ferizoli
Followers: 215,600
YouTube account Trollstation features videos from a range of pranksters, but is run by Endrit Ferizoli. One of its clips shows two men having a pretend argument outside a London pub.
One of the men hits the other over the head with a fake glass bottle and he falls to the ground.
It is unknown if the pedestrians featured in the video were aware that the incident was staged.
In one video posted by YouTube account Trollstation a man appears to bottle his friend
The ‘victim’ then lies prone on the ground in front of shocked onlookers
Name: Shammi Prasad
Followers: 6.8million
Australian prankster Shammi Prasad has been pulling obnoxious pranks for years, initially uploading his content to YouTube and since venturing on to TikTok and Instagram.
Some of his most recent pranks on the public include taking people’s groceries out of their baskets while they are shopping and walking off with it.
It results in furious shoppers confronting him and snatching the products back – seemingly unaware they are being filmed.
In 2018, he infuriated horse racing fans who were trying to watch the Melbourne Cup at a pub on the Gold Coast, after claiming he would ‘stop the race that stops the nation’.
He stood on a chair and unplugged the projector which had been showing the race at the Parkwood Tavern. Prasad raised his arms in triumph to a stunned crowd before he slowly made his way for the exit.
Australian prankster Shammi Prasad has been pulling obnoxious pranks for years
Prasad crashed a live screening of the race at Parkwood Tavern in the Gold Coast in 2018
Messing with people in the Geocery Store! 😂 #funny #prank #public #challenge #foryou #haha #chillout #australia
Name: Seb Bush and Will Woods
Followers: 374,500
Australian pranksters Seb Bush and Will Woods, behind the TikTok account Misfit Minds, have used elaborate pranks to gain clout on the app.
The comedians, from Perth, approach random people, posing as drug dealers wearing sideways caps, sunglasses and fancy packs, pretending to ‘sling’ them narcotics.
After approaching a man outside a Cash Converters, dressed in a leather jacket and dark sunglasses, one of the pair joked that he knew him and he ‘broke his bondage gear last week’.
Seb Bush and Will Woods upload prank and comedy videos to YouTube under the name Misfit Minds
The pair targeted a man who did not take kindly to being involved in the prank
More of these on our YouTube: Misfit Minds
The bearded and tattooed man asks: Do you know who I am?’
The comedian backed off up the street with the man following before he eventually let go of the argument.
‘I think you got the wrong person mate… if I see you again, I’m going to knock you out,’ the target of the prank said.
When confronted about the video the pair said they ‘didn’t mean any harm’. The police decided it was ‘not in the public interest’ to investigate.
In another video, the duo are seen pranking McDonalds staff who work in the drive thru, messing them around pretending they will pay for the customer behind them only to take it back at the last minute.
Name: Marco
Followers: 2million
Marco is an American TikToker who pretends to be blind, using a stick and blacked out glasses, while he approaches members of the public in a shop before making them jump by chasing after them.
In another series he is seen asking people to try out his ‘new hand sanitizer’ before telling people that it is ‘not meant for people’s hands’ and is full of bleach, leaving the members of the public panicking.
Other TikToks show him trying to take things from people while they are shopping.
In one video, Marco pretends to be blind, using a stick and blacked out glasses, while he approaches members of the public in a shop before making them jump by chasing after them
Marco is seen asking people to try out his ‘new hand sanitizer’ before telling people that it is ‘not meant for people’s hands’ and is full of bleach, leaving the members of the public panicking
 Jeffrey  @toure_ford 😂😂😂😂
Annoying, distressing and even upsetting… BUT are these pranksters breaking the law?
Although annoying, distressing or even upsetting to the victims of these ‘pranksters’, whether or not these stunts break any laws is more complex.
Talha Salzany, a social media legal expert at Freeman Harris solicitors, told MailOnline that due to the nature of the pranks it can be hard for those targeted to press charges.
He explained: ‘There is no real specific law that prevents filming someone on the street.
‘If someone was to post a video alleging that someone had engaged in inappropriate behaviour then that could be grounds for defamation proceedings – providing they could prove it.
‘You can also go after your image rights and revoke them although this can be an expensive process and is typically only used by celebrities.
‘Some of the more high profile pranks propagated by the likes of Mizzy fall under a section four offence of breaching the peace, so if the target called the authorities they could have a claim.
Mizzy – whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, 18 – was arrested for sharing videos showing him stealing dogs and trespassing in people’s homes
‘However the nature of these ‘gotcha’ pranks often involves the prankster de-escalating the situation and people invariably chalk it up as a weird thing that happened to them and move on with their lives.’
Perhaps due to the lack of consequences for many of these incidents, pranks on the public are highly popular with certain sections of the online community.
According to Millie Woodman, Head of Talent at EdHopkinsPR, algorithms on the internet are dependent on a variety of factors and coincidences that can make them hard to track or police.
She explained: ‘It often begins with a small group of individuals creating and sharing content that catches the attention of others. When the content goes viral and gains widespread attention, more people are motivated to replicate or participate in the trend, further amplifying its reach.
‘The cycle continues as others join in, seeking validation, recognition, or social connection.’
Ms Woodman continued: ‘Disturbing prank trends gain traction among youth due to factors like virality, attention-seeking, peer influence, and a lack of consequences.
‘Platforms like TikTok can combat these trends by enhancing moderation, implementing educational initiatives, providing reporting mechanisms, and collaborating with experts and youth organisations.
‘By taking these steps, platforms can help create a safer and more responsible online environment for young users.’
Source: Read Full Article