Identity theft, from information on the internet?

I have just been chatting with somebody on the internet, about a bizarre incident of identity theft.

Her son was arrested out of the blue one day, for evading a courtcase he didn't know he was supposed to be at. At the courtcase, it was discovered that he was not the person that was supposed to be standing trial, as his tattoos did not match up with the ones of the person who was supposed to be there. The judge gave the police a telling off about it, and the wrongly arrested was then set free.

Apparently, one of the guys FaceBook friends had got information about him, including his address, family member names, date of birth... from his FaceBook account, and pretended he was him, when the police arrested him on suspicion of a crime.

It seems bizarre that proving he was not the one who was supposed to be tried at the court was on the basis of unmatching tattoos. It must have scared the hell out of him, to be hauled to a courtroom and being accused of something he knew nothing about, even if they did let him go later. If it happened to me, I would still later be wondering if the police changed the report, to accurately tell what happened. I wouldnt be too pleased either that my name would be on the same record of the person who actually did a crime. I'd wonder what other screw ups could happen in future because of it. And,there would also be the people who saw me being hauled off to the courthouse by the police, who would not know why it was happening.

Did anything like this ever happen to you, or somebody you know?
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