When You Lie About Your Identity, Make Sure The Identity You Take Isn't Worse Than Your Own

from the a-public-service-announcement dept

Tue, Mar 20th 2007 3:13am — Mike Masnick

Back in 2003, we wrote about an identity theft scam that backfired when the identity the guy stole turned out to be worse than his own. In appears that a similar situation has happened again. This time, a car was pulled over by police and the driver was found to have a suspended license. The police asked the passenger in the car to drive the car away, as the original driver was taken into custody. However, when they asked the passenger to show his license, he said he left it at home... and then gave someone else's name as his own. The only problem? The guy whose name he gave is a wanted felon (via Fark). The police then arrested him and he had to explain that he wasn't really who he said he was, and proved it with ID which really was in his pocket. It turns out that the guy had no outstanding warrants himself... but now has been charged with giving false statements to police. So, once again, as a public service announcement to identity thieves: it's probably not a good idea if your stolen identities are in more trouble than you are.

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17 Comments

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Duh!, 20 Mar 2007 @ 3:49am

Hahahaha. What an idiot.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 4:20am

o.O smart enough to be an identity thief, not smart enough to be careful about it. >___>;;;;
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billy, 20 Mar 2007 @ 5:01am

haha
serves em right, the jerks
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You never know, 20 Mar 2007 @ 5:02am

Oh this is a clasic! If you're going to lie throu your teeth to a cop, make sure they are not still setting in the bathroom sink!!!!!
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Casper, 20 Mar 2007 @ 7:05am

Lying
You have to be smart to lie. Of course if you get away with it, you don't end up in the news....
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bt garner, 20 Mar 2007 @ 7:54am

Future Sting Operations
Wonder how long it will be before the police (FBI, etc) start to leak known bad information.. .might be easier to catch those guys if the IDs that are using are also "wanted."
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Newob, 20 Mar 2007 @ 9:22am

Identity or avatar?
People have a strange way of thinking about identity. IMHO, my identification cards, social security number, and all the other names and numbers that identify me are not *me*, they are avatars of myself. Just as I am not that character or spaceship in a video game that I play, I am not my identification. Characters and roles you play in real life are just avatars, like the characters and roles you play in games. Knowing that, no one can steal my identity.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:25am

Re: Identity or avatar?
LMAO. Problem solved. Next!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:34am

You are not legally required to identify yourself to the police. Just say no.
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Captain Obvious, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:36am

Thank god I read this article about someone lying to a police officer on TechDirt. Nothing screams technology like a story about giving false identity to a cop.

Mike, this is either another slow news day, or you've reached a new low.
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theOngman, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:39am

>_>
that is fail
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:43am

Re:
You ARE legally required to identify yourself to an officer of the law. failure to do so may result in up to 72 hours in jail, at which time they must charge you with something, or let you go.
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traveler, 20 Mar 2007 @ 10:44am

Re:
Yeap, The coward is absolutely right.... You have the right to remain silent, and hire an attorney, then pay him $225/hr. to tell them who you are! This after you've given the officer enough probable cause to suspect that you're hiding something, and get a search warrant to search your car, and get you finger printed into the system, etc. Brilliant advice!
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anonymous coward, 20 Mar 2007 @ 11:17am

banruptcy and dui, i'm just hoping someone tries to steal my identity. good luck with that!
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Charles Griswold, 20 Mar 2007 @ 4:58pm

Re: Captain Obvious
Thank god I read this article about someone lying to a police officer on TechDirt. Nothing screams technology like a story about giving false identity to a cop.

Mike, this is either another slow news day, or you've reached a new low.

Not to be obvious or anything, but identity theft largely is a tech issue. In a non-networked world, identity theft wouldn't be nearly the problem that it is.

BTW, nothing screams "I have nothing valuable to do with my time" like deliberately misconstruing the theme of an article (identity theft gone wrong vs. lying to cops) and then making a really lame attempt at sarcasm.

Anyway, kudos to Mike for this article. It's nice to see the lighter side of tech issues once in a while. :-)
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|333173|3|_||3, 21 Mar 2007 @ 5:02am

releasing information for identity theives to use of suspects would not help catch the original suspect, unless they reported to the police to complian, even if it would help catch the identity thieves. Also, releasing personal details of suspect which could be used to identify him might be a viollation of the presumption of innocence. After all, reporters are not supposed to reveal the street address of a suspect whose trial they are reporting on.
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money, 22 Oct 2010 @ 1:49pm

Re: Identity or avatar?
umm...that was lame bro...l a m e..lame.
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