Friday Squid Blogging: SqUID Bots

William • April 5, 2024 5:21 PM

Could you imagine discovering that your identity had been used to take out fraudulent loans and when you tried to resolve the issue and didn’t know the answers to the account security questions connected to the loans, but instead provided your California state ID and Social Security card you were instead arrested, charged with multiple felonies, jailed for over a year, incarcerated in a mental hospital for over a year where you were given psychotropic drugs and eventually released with a criminal record and a judge’s order that you could no longer use your real name?

As dystopian as this might sound, it actually happened. It was only after the victim learned his oppressor worked for The University of Iowa Hospital and contacted their security department was the investigation taken seriously. The investigator noticed the imposter used the wrong middle name on the driver’s license he supplied and didn’t know his father’s name which led them to conduct a DNA test ending the 35 year long run of the grifter.

Cedar Rapids Gazette