A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months | TheBriefWire
A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months
Published 27 July 2026 ยท world
One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months. A 2018 child-luring investigation, which began in
One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months. A 2018 child-luring investigation, which began in Madison, Wisconsin, and eventually extended to Halifax, Canada, was based on a false premise.
Police were looking for a man using the Kik messaging service under the name "fus__ro_dah" (two underscores after "fus"), but they accidentally requested records for the username "fus_ro_dah" (one underscore after "fus").
This one-character difference led them not to the perpetrator but to a Canadian man named Brandon Klayme. Read full article Comments
Published: July 28, 2026 โข 1:52 AM IST ยท Updated: July 28, 2026 โข 4:35 AM ISTBy TheBriefWire Editorial Team
Key points
One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months.
A 2018 child-luring investigation, which began in Madison, Wisconsin, and eventually extended to Halifax, Canada, was based on a false premise.
Police were looking for a man using the Kik messaging service under the name "fus__ro_dah" (two underscores after "fus"), but they accidentally requested records for the username "fus_ro_dah" (one underscore after "fus").
This one-character difference led them not to the perpetrator but to a Canadian man named Brandon Klayme.