Crime and idiocy sure do pay in the clout-chasing world of TikTok.

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen brazen TikTok pranksters arrested for criminal, potentially dangerous acts masquerading as harmless viral hijinks.

There was Bacari-Bronze O’Garro a k a Mizzy, the now-infamous UK influencer, who filmed himself walking into stranger’s homes. Two weeks ago, the serial prankster was busted for “breach of a criminal behavior order.”

Also in the UK, there’s the Out of Society account, which has notched millions of views and likes for daredevil videos filmed atop fire engines and dropping brooms from a skyscraper.

In April, the account posted a video of someone grabbing a broom from a McDonald’s employee and submerging it into a piping-hot deep fryer.

Yorkshire police said they busted three men in their 20s associated with the account after the fire engine video was posted.

What could go wrong? Surely nothing, unless you’re in a “Stand Your Ground” state.

(TikTok reps said they removed Mizzy’s videos and Out of Society’s account for violating community guidelines).

After his latest arrest, Mizzy bragged it was good for business and that his older videos were blowing up.

“You guys are on social media giving me what I want, you’re commenting on these videos, you’re engaging, you’re posting me more, sharing me everywhere,” he tweeted.

He’s not only right, but he succinctly states why these challenges and pranks are sweeping the platform: fame.

In another era, Mizzy’s antics would have tagged him as a reprobate and a nuisance for local authorities — and nothing more.

But, in 2023, he’s grabbing headlines and admirers around the world, inspiring easily influenced youth looking for that dopamine hit triggered by online virality.

Guys like Mizzy are laying down the gauntlet and kids take on these challenges, some of which, like the Benadryl challenge, have proven very deadly.

Plug #prank into TikTok and you’ll get 430.8 billion views. There are compilations of the milder variety — a person dressed as a teddy bear secretly launching balls of yarn at unsuspecting Walmart shoppers, a man in a superstore casually releasing fart noises near other customers and a woman secretly planting her red lipstick inside her husband’s Chapstick.

But ambushing unwitting folks with your attempts at humor doesn’t always lead to laughs. Some have led to violence, like a kid dancing atop a car and getting tackled by the driver.

Influencers are only as good as their last trick, which means the stakes keep getting higher to stand out, grab eyeballs and keep those eyeballs coming back day after day.

Then, of course, there’s the inconvenient fact that many of these seemingly audacious acts are clearly staged. Yet, they get laughs and are copied by naïve followers.

Daredevils and pranksters have been at it forever. In the late 1980s and early ’90s, before caller ID became standard, the Jerky Boys became part of the cultural consciousness with their stable of New York-centric characters prank-calling unsuspecting businesses.

They inspired a generation of teens to record their own. But, in contrast to TikTok, there wasn’t glory for your successful Jerky Boys imitation, beyond playing the tapes for your friends during third period study hall.

However, with social media, one clever video filmed at breakfast can turn a bored 16-year-old in middle America into a bona fide influencer before dinner time. A risky move can be rewarded with instant gratification — and notoriety.

And, sadly, it’s not just the youth: The mind-numbingly stupid acts have moved into middle age.

Feeds are filled with adults pranking their spouses (such as by pretending they’ve cheated on them), pulling tricks on their kids or undergoing painful beauty practices like waxing their faces for the cameras.

And we’re all the dumber for it.