Identity Mix-Up in Michigan
What a strange turn of events.
Recently, thousands of residents in Michigan received their enhanced driver’s licenses and state ID cards, only to find that they featured the face of a complete stranger. This odd incident occurred when about 8,200 cards created on August 26 were misprinted due to an error by the state’s vendor, Idemia, as reported by the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office on September 5.
Instead of their own information, the lower-right corner of these cards displayed a stock photo of an unidentified black man with a made-up date of birth.
State officials emphasized that the incorrect information isn’t linked to any actual resident—it’s just generic.
One Michigan resident, Lanita Nelson, was taken aback when she received her enhanced driver’s license, which is also valid for crossing certain US borders by land or sea. “I kept looking and I was like, ‘That’s a man in the bottom corner,’” Nelson mentioned in an interview. “And I keep looking, and he’s smiling. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’”
Upon examining her card more closely, she quickly realized that all her personal details were incorrect.
“There is a whole black man’s face down on the bottom right of my license with a fake birthday—January 12, ’67,” Nelson recounted. “I’m like, ‘No, this doesn’t apply to me. This can’t be right.’ I even Googled, ‘Who is this man on my enhanced license?’”
It turned out that she wasn’t alone; other Michiganders had also found the same mysterious face on their licenses.
In fact, one person joked on Facebook, saying the image looked like Kevin Hart.
The strange photo wasn’t someone else’s license—it was just a stock image used for illustration purposes.
This mix-up left Nelson contemplating whether it would be safe to use her license if she got pulled over. “If I show this to the police, and I get pulled over, they are going to think I’m doing something illegal. So I have to sort this out,” she expressed.
The Michigan Department of State has since stated that corrected cards have already been sent out to everyone who received a misprinted license or ID. Residents don’t need to report the error or request replacements.
In the meantime, those affected can print a temporary license or visit a Secretary of State office to resolve their situation. Also, anyone with a previously issued license or ID that hasn’t expired can still use it for travel.
This incident isn’t unique to Michigan. Earlier this year, the California DMV announced that around 325,000 residents would require new REAL ID driver’s licenses due to a software glitch. Additionally, the FBI recently stated it was probing reports that tens of millions of driver’s licenses belonging to people across the US and Canada were being sold on the dark web.
