Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Fake Bank Robbery Prank - The Stokes Twins

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

In 2019, twin YouTubers Alan and Alex Stokes aka The Stokes Twins staged a fake bank robbery in Irvine, California, as part of a prank video. Dressed in black with ski masks and carrying duffel bags of cash, they called an Uber while pretending to flee a robbery. A bystander, believing a real crime was occurring, alerted police, leading to officers detaining the unsuspecting Uber driver at gunpoint. Despite a warning from authorities, the twins repeated the stunt hours later at the University of California, Irvine, prompting further emergency calls.

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Now the YouTubers, they're the Stokes, and the Stokes are twin brothers living in California, and they have a really big YouTube channel right now, 125 million subscribers. Damn! Hey guys, welcome back to our YouTube channel, so I'm Alan and I'm Alex. And it seems like they do a lot of prank videos and stuff, nothing you haven't seen before. But one day in 2019, when they're both 23, sh-it gets wild. Because during this time, they've only got like a few million followers on YouTube. And like all YouTubers, they really want to grow big, much bigger than that.

And they need to come up with a prank that's really going to shock their audience. Something they know is going to go viral on YouTube. And so the Stokes, they put their heads together and they come up with one of the dumbest frank ideas I've ever heard of. They're going to pretend to rob a bank and then fake a getaway in public. You might be wondering why we're dressed like this and it's because And it's because we're doing a bank robber prank So we have a lot of money right here and we're gonna be running around in front of people and making us seem like we just got done robbing a bank Oh, what could possibly go wrong? Let's try to get this video a hundred thousand likes because we're literally risking our lives doing this video

So all right, let's do this. So anyway, they dress up in all black outfits and they go out and they buy black ski masks to cover their faces so they look like bank robbers and just to make sure the prank looks really as Especially real, they buy a bunch of fake dollar bills and they shove them into two duffel bags. Then, on the day of the robbery, the Stokes find the perfect location to stage this. And once they get to the spot, they call an Uber to show up and wait for them. At the same time, their cameraman hides in the bushes and he waits for the prank to start. And then, boom, it starts. And the Stokes sprint across the street, dress like bank robbers, and they jump into this Uber. Now, remember, this poor Uber driver has no idea what's going on or who these guys are.

Our getaway driver just bailed on us. What is it? What is this? Oh, we're going to like a costume. Costume party. Could you step on it? Like, step on a gas? Just three years.

Not funny. Okay, can't just take this right? Just got it off my compass. No, we're going to get caught. Oh, man. This isn't good. Now, he eventually kicks them out of the car and he drives away. But a random passer-by on the street, I guess he sees the whole thing go down,

and this person thinks the Stokes are actual carjackers trying to take this guy's Uber from him, and this person calls the police. And then another person calls, and then another person calls, and then another person calls, because they're all thinking the same thing. And so, after all these panic 911 calls, the police are like, oh, there's some kind of robbery, and a bunch of officers head that way. And then the first officer rolls up. You guys just get out of an Uber a minute ago?

This one's going to get someone potentially gunstuck or something hurt. We have people stopping in the middle street because they're watching this. Guys pulling up ski masks, throwing stuff on the ground, changing clothes. Now, at the same time, other officers are out looking for the Uber driver because they think he's in on this alleged robbery too. And so, boom, a bunch of cop cars roll up on him and they swarm his car. And they've apparently got their guns drawn at him and they yell at him like, get out of the car. And the poor Uber driver's like, wait, I have nothing.

to do with this. And so they questioned him and they eventually realized that he isn't actually a getaway driver, so they let him go. Meanwhile, more officers roll up on the Stokes and they question them. And the Stokes assure them that this whole thing was just one big joke. I just didn't expect this to actually happen because like most of some people are just always laughing. Now, luckily for them, the police are actually fairly chill about it. Think about what's going on nowadays. Think about it, man. You've got to be smart or not, man. You know better. Like I said, I want you guys to be creative and do what you want to do, but you've got to be smart on this. What do you think people are going to do? And you're lucky you didn't get guns drawn at you.

You're absolutely lucky you think you're getting guns drawn on them. But apparently the Uber driver wasn't so lucky. You get your Uber driver pulled over too and he's freaking out. Now, since the Stokes are just a bunch of goofy YouTubers, the police decide to let them go with only a warning. And everyone can go home happy and the Stokes have learned their lesson. Until... The Stokes have not, in fact, learned their lesson. Because only four hours later, they decide, Actually, let's do it again!

And so they show up on a nearby college campus, UC Irvine. And they're still dressed in all black carrying their duffel bags full of fake money. And so, pow, they start doing this prank there. And they do it again, they do it again and again. They keep running around this campus, pretending to be bank robbers on the run. Oh man, I gotta go.

And some of the students can tell that it's just a stupid prank, but other people on campus, once again, they think that they are actual criminals on the loose, and they call police. Here's the thing, though. It's not like the Stokes don't know that what they're doing is bad, because not only did they get lectured by those officers hours before... You've got to be smart or not, man. But while they're on campus at UC Irvine, they actually stop and talk to some of the students, and they bragged to them about having the police called on them earlier that day. Yeah, no. We've had the police calling us all day.

So, like, I caught an Uber driver, right? And we both got into a car. People, like, saw us get into the car with, like, the ski mask and everything on. And then Uber driver kicked us out of the car. One minute later, there were, like, 10 cop cars that pulled out, like, guns on him. Like, they were, like, rifles. They thought he was a getaway driver. So he got, like, 15 guns, like, put on me.

He's like, I'm not even a part of this. So, like, yeah, poor guy. So anyway, like I said, some of the people on campus call the police, and police are like, Again? You gotta be kidding me. And they all head out to the scene and they confront the Stokes a second time. However, for whatever reason, they don't arrest them. This must be that privilege I keep hearing about.

Now, from here, the Stokes go home. And they edit all this footage together that they filmed that day, or maybe they pay someone to edit it for them. I don't actually know how their operation works. But then they upload it to YouTube. And they call it bank robbery prank gone wrong, because of course they do. And it's got footage of the whole crime.

in there, including them involving the Uber driver and footage of the police showing up. And pretty quickly, boom, that video easily hits millions of views. However, almost a year later, the district attorney is like, and ca-pow, we're charging you with misdemeanor false imprisonment and reporting false emergencies, which could get them up to four years in prison. If you're engaging in criminal activity in order to increase your ratings or increase your sensationalism on YouTube, and you can cross the line and violate the lot, you're gonna be prosecuted.

And of course, this all makes the news because it's so absurd. Stokes twins are charged in connection with a pair of videos where they allegedly faked bank robberies. The twins were just charged with false imprisonment and falsely reporting an emergency. And so the Stokes, I guess they realized they're screwed. I mean, they already uploaded all the evidence against them to YouTube, including admitting to knowing that what they were doing was wrong. We've had the police call in us like all day. It's like, and so like, and so, And so eventually they take a plea deal and they don't actually get prison time. Instead, they get probation and community service.

But whatever, they're doing okay these days with their 125 million subscribers. They're fine, so, you know, good for them.