Recently, the media drew attention to the story of a fan of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim who got into an unpleasant situation because of his nickname. Canadian Brandon Klayme used a reference to the in-game shout "Fus Ro Dah" as his nickname.
Brandon's nickname was spelled as "fus_ro_dah". Several years ago, a real criminal used a similar nickname "fus__ro_dah" (two underscores between the "fus" and "ro" parts). He corresponded via the Kik messenger, where Brandon was also registered.
In 2018, an investigation began. The police sent a request, and during the processing, a typo was made, due to which they were looking for a user with the nickname "fus_ro_dah" (the second underscore was lost). As a result, law enforcement agencies were provided with the data of an uninvolved user.
Police tracked Brandon to Nova Scotia, and in 2020, his home was searched and equipment was seized. During further investigation, experts found no evidence of a crime or contact with the victim. Despite this, the Skyrim fan was arrested and subsequently convicted.
In 2024, the court sentenced the innocent gamer to 18 months in prison, and he served the entire sentence. The error was discovered when the lawyer was reviewing documents to prepare an appeal: he compared the original request with the case materials. For several years, investigators and the court did not notice the difference in one character.
It is not yet clear whether Brandon will seek compensation for the 18 months he spent in prison.