Melissa Muccia was at a dinner party, so she didn’t immediately see her daughter’s text.
When she did eventually check her phone, what she saw jolted her soul with terror. Her daughter had written that she’d invited a homeless man into her apartment, and sent pictures of him rummaging through her fridge, lingering in her hallway, and lying on their couch. “He’s actually lovely,” she texted.
“It was horrifying,” said Muccia, 58. “I called her ten times.” There was no reply. Muccia panicked, rushing out of her dinner party. “I was crying, begging my husband to drive me into the city. I even called the police.”
When two officers showed up at her daughter’s apartment, the 23-year-old was asleep on the couch—she’d dozed off, assuming her mother hadn’t taken the texts seriously. Because the truth was, there was no interloper. And the police suspected as much; when they arrived, according to Melissa’s daughter, one of them said: “This is the AI homeless guy thing, right?” They explained that it was their fourth call from a concerned parent that day.
