‘Who Is This Man?’: Michigan ID Glitch Puts Same Stranger’s Face on 8,200 IDs
Michigan residents are receiving new state IDs after a bizarre printing error put the same stranger’s face—and the same incorrect birth date—on roughly 8,200 driver’s licenses and identification cards.
The affected cards were printed Aug. 26 by Idemia, Michigan’s vendor, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office. Images shared online show the cardholder’s information in the bottom-right corner replaced by a stock photo of a Black man and a birth date of Jan. 12, 1967, according to The New York Post.
For Lanita Nelson, a Michigan resident, the problem was obvious as soon as she looked at her new enhanced license. “I kept looking, and I was like, ‘That’s a man in the bottom corner,’” she told CBS Detroit. “And I keep looking, and he’s smiling. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’”
When she looked more closely, Nelson also noticed the birthday next to the photo did not belong to her. “There is a whole Black man’s face down on the bottom right of my license with a fake birthday; January 12, ’67,” she said. “I’m like, ‘No, this doesn’t apply to me. This can’t be right.’”
State officials said the misprinted information was generic and did not belong to another resident. The photo also was not another customer’s, but a stock image. Still, the cards are not valid for the 8,200 residents who received them.
Nelson searched Google for “Who is this man on my enhanced license?” and quickly learned she was not alone. Thousands of other Michiganders had IDs featuring the same stranger’s face, and social media users posted similar questions after finding the strange photo and fake information on their own cards.
The glitch has raised practical concerns for affected residents, whose licenses and IDs are used for driving, age verification, travel and other official purposes. Although officials said no other resident’s personal data was exposed, the mix-up left thousands of people temporarily carrying invalid government-issued credentials and raised questions about quality control. Nelson worried about what would happen if she were pulled over before the issue was fixed. “If I show this to the police, and I mess around and get pulled over, they are going to try to take me to jail,” she said. “I have to figure this out.”
The Michigan Department of State said corrected cards had already been issued to everyone who received the erroneous IDs. Residents do not need to report the mistake or request a replacement, officials said.
Until the new cards arrive, customers can print a temporary license or ID online or visit a Secretary of State branch office.
Featured image: CBS Detroit