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Also a bunch of watch lists use soundex algorithms and fuzzy matches and put you into all sorts of tarpits/extra screenings based on them.

If the name is actually ‘smith jones’ (or ‘Mohammed’, or ‘Chan’) your odds of getting whacked by one of them goes way up. Since what are the odds one of the hundreds of millions of people with a similar name misbehaved enough to get on one of those?

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If the other Torgel McForkelsen gets one more DUI in this state and it causes me to get pulled over again, I'm gonna lose my mind.

Edit: More seriously, TSA has the idea of a "redress number". If you get flagged because your name buddy did something shady, you can get your own ID number that says "no, I'm a different John Smith than the one you're looking for". See https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers for more.

Good news, if you get charged and change your name they won't find you later!

My favorite is when someone gets arrested without ID and uses the name/info of someone they know but don’t like. Bonus points if they look somewhat similar at first glance.

That can be really fun to untangle.

[https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/tennessee-woman-stea...]

There is, afaik, exactly one other American with my first and last name. Fortunately, we're both reasonably upstanding citizens, so the scenario you mention has not come up.

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