Tennessee Grandmother Was Falsely Arrested by Fargo Police Department After AI Software Identified her as Criminal

Police departments should be cautious before trusting AI software to find criminals after the news story that the Fargo Police Department used AI software to "scrape the internet" to find someone who commited crimes in North Dakota.

Angela Lipps of Tennessee; credit: Cass County Sheriff's Office

According to CNN, the Fargo Police department has "acknowledged a few errors" after falsely arresting Angela Lipps, a grandmother and resident of Tennessee, and keeping her behind bars for more than five months.

The now 50-year-old woman was first arrested on July 14, 2025, after a warrant went out for her arrest that originated in Fargo, North Dakota. She was accused of crimes related to bank fraud that took place in and around Fargo.

Was the Fargo Police Department Mistake due to lazy police work or miscommunication?

Fargo Police Department Chief Dave Zibolski said that his investigators used "our partner agency's facial recognition technology" and used "additional investigative steps independent of AI in identification before submitting their report to the Cass County State Attorney's Office."

He then described some of the breakdown in what went wrong.

"At some point, our partner agency over at West Fargo purchased their own AI facial recognition system that we were no aware of a tthe executive level... and we would not have allowed that to be used, and it has since been prohibited." -Police Dept. Chief Dave Zibolski

According to CNN, the West Fargo Police Department acknowledged they use Clearview AI, and that "Clearview identified a potential suspect with similar features to Angela Lipp." West Fargo police then shared that report with Fargo police department.

Hopefully, Angela Lipp will get an apology from those who falsely arrested her.

Angela Lipp GoFundMe Page

Since the false arrest, Angela Lipp had a GoFundMe started and at the time of publication, it had raised $67,899 USD with a goal of reaching $75,000.

The GoFundMe description on the page reads:

"On July 14th, 2025 a team of U.S. Marshals showed up at my home while I was babysitting four young children. They arrested me at gunpoint and took me away. Until then I had never had a gun pointed at me. These poor children saw everything happen. It breaks my heart. They were so scared.

What I later learned, after many days in jail is that police in Fargo, North Dakota had been investigating a bank fraud case. A woman used a fake military ID to steal tens of thousands of dollars from banks in Fargo. The cops ran surveillance footage through facial recognition software. That AI software said it was me. A detective looked at my Tennessee driver's license and my social media and agreed. Nobody called me. Nobody asked me a single question. They just got a warrant.

I sat in a county jail in Tennessee for 108 days. They said I was fugitive from justice. I had no bail. No one interviewed me. I just sat and waited.

On October 30th I was taken from the jail and flown to North Dakota. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane. I was terrified. They put a restraint device around my waist and handcuffed me and walked me through the airport in front of everyone. Everyone was staring. I was terrified and exhausted and humiliated.

I was given a lawyer in Fargo. The lawyer pulled my bank records and showed that I was in Tennessee the entire time. My bank records prove that I was at a gas station, ordering a pizza, and using Cash App at the very times they said I was 1,200 miles north in Fargo. I was taken by the U.S. Marshals on July 14th. It wasn't until December 19th that my lawyer and I finally sat down with a detective. It took five minutes for the whole thing to fall apart. Five minutes.

On Christmas Eve, after more than five months in jail, the charges were dismissed.

I was released into a North Dakota winter wearing summer clothes. I had no coat, no ride, no way home. Fargo police did nothing to help me. Local defense attorneys gave me money for a hotel room and food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. A local nonprofit founder drove me to Chicago and from there I got back home to Tennessee.

No one from the Fargo Police Department has apologized.

I pleaded with the U.S. Marshals to get my dentures and take them to jail with me but they refused. For six months I had no dentures. Jail would not allow me to have them. You can see it in my mugshot. The one they put on the news. That photo was taken at the worst moment of my life and they published it for the world to see.

While I was in jail I lost everything.

My family put my personal belongings into storage but the bill couldn't be paid. Everything is gone. Everything. I lost my rental home in a mobile home park. I lost my Social Security income. I lost my health insurance. I lost my doctors. I lost my dog. I lost my car, a Chrysler Sebring convertible and everything inside of it. I lost brand new clothes and shoes that I had just bought. I lost tools, cables, a battery charger, a tire inflator. Everything.

I missed Halloween with my grandkids. I missed my 50th birthday. I missed Thanksgiving. I was released on Christmas Eve but I was stranded in North Dakota with nothing so I missed that too.

My neighbors watched me get arrested. People in my community assumed I was guilty. I was charged, so in their eyes that was that.

I gained 65lbs from fluid retention and poor diet when I was in jail. I just got my health insurance back and have an appointment coming up with a doctor. I don't sleep at night. I'm up every hour, thinking and praying, thankful that I'm no longer locked up but terrified that it could happen again. I shake when I think about that day. I am not the same woman I was. I don't think I ever will be.

I am now living with neighbors in the trailer park. I have no car, no money, and no way to start over on my own. I have always been an independent woman. I cannot start life again with nothing.

There are news articles documenting everything I've described here. Every word is verified and on record.
https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/ai-error-jails-innocent-grandmother-for-months-in-fargo-case

If you can give anything, $5, $10, whatever you can, please know that it makes all the difference in the world. I understand if you can't give money, can you please share this story? That matters just as much. People need to know that this is happening in America and it could happen to anyone."

Sources:

Angela Lipp's GoFundMe page.

Cass County Sherriff's Office.

Sottle, Zoe. "Police used AI facial recognition to arrest a Tennessee woman for crimes committed in a state she says she's never visited." CNN. 28 March 2026.

35 People Were Added to California Woman's Credit Card Without Her Knowledge or Permission

 A woman in the San Francisco Bay Area was surprised when she went on a cruise when "authorized users" were mysteriously added to her Chase credit card account out of nowhere. She learned this from the U.S. Postal Service when 35 credit cards appeared in her mail.'

credit: ABC7 News San Francisco

Bay Area Woman Was on a Cruise When 35 Credit Cards Arrived

Jodi Hayes of Walnut Creek, CA was traveling on a cruise with her husband in August 2024 when she was notified about mail from Chase. It turns out that 35 people were added to her Marriot Bonvoy Chase credit card account.

She said:

"I know I have good credit, but I've never seen anything like this ever. This fiasco ruined the end of our vacation." -Jodi Hayes

She contacted Chase about the issue, and she says their response was very "basic."

She says Chase claims it was due to a "computer glitch," and they offered to stop the cards from ever being activated.

Then the Chase fraud department contacted her to make a note on her account before giving her a new account number altogether.

She wanted them to tell her "We'll investigate it," but just proceeded to issue her a new account number and left it at that.

Sources:

Cortez, Joe. "‘I've never seen anything like this’: 35 strangers fraudulently added to California woman's Chase credit card as authorized users with the power to charge up to $19K." Moneywise.com. 23 September 2024.

Colorado Man Loses Almost $140K to Scammer Posing as Chase Fraud Department

A Jefferson County man was living in a "nightmare" after a scammer posing as Chase Bank's Fraud Department sent a "Chase Fraud Alert" to his phone. After giving the scammer access to his account, 11 wire transfers initiated by the scammer stole almost $140K out of his Chase Business account.

Chase Bank branch

What happens when the bank isn't prepared to help you resolve a fraud alert quickly, and a scammer posing as the fraud department is "more than eager" to help?

It's a situation happening far too often after a man in Colorado learned the hard way to be more cautious after losing almost $140K in a fraud scheme that all started with a text message.

An FBI report on fraud in 2022 found that 405 Colorado residents lost almost $500k to phishing scams, while 467 residents lost over $2 million to spoofing scams in the state.

More details are below.

Colorado Man Tricked by Scammer's Text Message Spoofing a 'Chase Fraud Alert'

FOX31 News reported on Friday that Scott Koll from Golden, Colorado received a Chase Fraud Alert text to his phone in January, which started a nightmare situation for him and his wife.

Scott is seen in the photo below along with the Chase Alert he received.

Scott Zoll and Fraud text alert; credit: FOX31 News

The Chase fraud alert read: “Chase Alerts: Did you attempt to send a Wire transfer for the amount of $4,500.00? Reply Y or N. STOP to end."

Scott contacted his business partners to see if they knew anything about it.

He said:

“At that point, before I did anything else, I reached out to my business partners and asked if they had initiated a wire. They had not. So I then called the bank branch to see if they could see any activity on my account." -Scott Koll, Chase customer

Next, Scott called his local bank branch in Golden, which gave him the number for Chase's fraud department.

While communicating with his bank, he also replied to the "fraud alert" text.

He said:

“At that point, I acknowledged the text that came through, said, ‘No, we did not initiate this wire,’ [&] got a text back immediately saying somebody from the Chase fraud team will be in contact with you.” -Scott Koll, Chase customer

Scott didn't know that his text replied to a scammer waiting for his response.

Chase's legitimate fraud department number was being "spoofed" by the scammer, which also fooled Scott into thinking it was his real bank.

He said:

"Probably within 30 seconds, I received a phone call from the exact number that the branch had just given me." -Scott Koll, Chase customer

He was on the phone with a scammer and the call dropped. So he called the real Chase Bank fraud number. His real bank could not see the texts or communications that he had with the scammer, and Scott began to get frustrated with his real bank.

That's when the scammers posing as his bank called back. Since they seemed to know what they were doing, he continued on his call with them. They knew how much money was in his account and could tell him his bank account number.

The Scammer Asked Him for a 'One-Time Passcode'

Scott was working with who he thought was a member of the fraud team to look into a fraudulent wire that was posted to his account.

The scammer told him they would need Scott to reveal a one-time passcode that would be texted to his cell phone to authenticate his identity. Scott complied with this request, which then gave him the access needed to initiate 11 outgoing wire transfers out of his business account totaling $137,130.

Never give anyone a PIN or "one-time passcode" from your bank. Real employees of the bank do not ask for this and would get in trouble if they did ask for it. Only scammers ask for this type of information.

Chase Bank released a statement to FOX31 News.

It read:

"These types of scams are heartbreaking. Beware of new contacts asking you for codes, access to your device, or to send them, yourself, or anyone else money to prevent fraud. Chase, other banks, law enforcement, and technology companies won’t ask you to do this, but scammers will. Like cash, wires are final payments and are rarely successfully recalled, once sent." -Chase Bank

An Update to the Scott Koll Case

The U.S. Sun reported that Scott Koll was notified by Chase Bank on 31 January 2024 that a "significant amount" of their missing funds are expected to be returned after investigating his case over several weeks in January.

Their investigation also uncovered that Scott Koll's computer was infected with malware and "was hacked more than one year before the fraud took place."

Thoughts

Now it is time for the reader to share your thoughts on this story.

• Do you know anyone who has been the victim of bank fraud?
• Have you ever had fraudulent charges posted to your debit or credit card?
• Have you had to contact a fraud department to dispute fraud charges?

Please share this article with friends and family so they can be informed about this story.

Sources

Chase Bank's website.

FBI Report: "Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report 2022." Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Date accessed: 2 February 2024.

Low, Rob. "Phishing scam dupes Jefferson County couple out of $137K." FOX31 News. 1 February 2024.

White, Debbie. "DON'T BANK ON IT. ‘Never trust an incoming call,’ Chase customers are warned after couple loses $137k – it looked like an official number." The U.S. Sun. 2 February 2024.

Scammers Take $13,000 from An Illinois Man in a Bill Paying Scam on Whatsapp

Mohammad Mazher, fell victim to a scam that promised to help him pay his bills amid rising inflation. He lost $13,000 to the scammers who contacted him on WhatsApp and claimed to be from a bill negotiation service.

Mohammad Mazher

One man learned the hard way not to trust random strangers who promise to pay his bills.

He admits: "I just fell for the trap."

WhatsApp Scam Fools Illinois Man out of $13,000

WLS Channel 7 News reported Mohammad Mazher from Elgin, Illinois became the latest victim of a scam where criminals promise that they will help you pay your bills. They convince their victims that you just have to pay 60% and they will pay the other 40%. of your existing bills. 

He said:

"The scheme was they will pay the bills off. I would go check online in my ComEd and utility bills, it says paid off. After three or four days, it would get canceled," -Mohammad Mazher, victim of WhatsApp scam

They fooled Mohammad by speaking to him in Hindi to gain his trust. He sent them money, and it appeared that they were paying his bills, but in reality, it just appeared that payment was posting to his account, but then it would reverse days later. 

The criminals were keeping all of the money that he was sending to them. They continued to scam him out of a total of $13,000 USD.

When Mazher realized that his bills were not being paid, and they were scamming him, he filed a police report with the Elgin Police Department and filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission. His police report can be seen below.

There are companies that specialize in debt consolidation, but what Mazher went through was a scam and not a legitimate company. It was criminals wanting to take advantage of a person by gaining their trust.

Image credit: WLS ABC 7 News

Michigan Woman Gave Over $300k to a Scammer Involving Amazon's Fraud Department

A Michigan woman gave over $300k to a scammer claiming to be from Amazon's Fraud Department. Two months after the scam started, she finally told her husband and now they may never recover her money.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

A woman from Troy, Michigan handed over $300,000 to a scammer, and in the "blink of an eye," it was gone before realizing her grave mistake. Then she had to tell her husband what she did.

Michigan Woman Gave the Scammer $300,000

FOX 2 News reported about a woman from Troy, Michigan who fell for a common scam from someone claiming to be from Amazon's fraud department.

First, she was contacted by a scammer in June 2023, claiming to be an Amazon employee, working for their fraud department, and he accused her of drug trafficking.

This should have been the first red flag, as Amazon would logically never be involved with something like this.

The scammer encouraged the woman to contact the Social Security Administration, because "she may be a victim of fraud."

A second scammer contacted her, claiming she was under investigation for "drug trafficking and fraud."

Next, the scammer told her not to contact anyone about her case. This is common in scams involving the transfer of money, and oftentimes the scammer will say there is a "gag order" preventing the victim from telling anyone. This is all part of the scam.

The scammer told her that he "could protect her from legal action" if she sent him "any money she had over $5,000." The scammers talked her through buying pre-paid gift cards and she sent photos of the gift card numbers.

The scammer asked for an accounting of her financial assets and for her driver's license, and she provided a photo.

When the scammer found out she had over $300k in gold and silver, the scammer told her how to turn these assets over to them, to "protect them from seizure."

The communication from the scammers ended on 28 August 2023. The phone number she had been communicating with had been disconnected. This is when she realized she had been scammed and then decided to tell her husband.

They went to the authorities to report the scam, but the damage had been done and their money was gone.

How to Prevent Scams

In modern times, it is important to know how to prevent being scammed.

YouMail - a company that monitors robocalls - reported in 2021 that "Americans receive between 100 to 150 million robocalls per month claiming to be with Amazon." (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer)

Tips to Prevent Getting Scammed:

• First, if you are ever accused of a crime, you need to tell your family and quickly get a lawyer involved. If she had told her family and a lawyer, she probably would have found out about the scam.
• Next, if a person from Amazon calls you, it is probably a scam. Amazon rarely calls a person unless you have first requested them to call you (such as you are trying to get in touch with customer service). They may offer to call you back so you don't have to wait on hold or if you prompt them to call you on their website. Amazon will not call a customer "out of the blue" without being first directed to. If you receive a random phone call from Amazon, find a reason to end that call and then call Amazon Customer Service back directly and inquire if they need to contact you.
• Never give out personal information, such as copies of your driver's license and personal financial information to someone who asks you. Again, if you have a lawyer involved, give this information only to your trusted legal representative.
• Lastly, no government agency, nor law enforcement would ever ask you for payment at the beginning or during an open investigation.
• Ask the family to take a look at any emails or texts from Amazon that seem out of the ordinary. Never click on links in texts or emails unless you trust it is legitimate.

Amazon states on its website: "We take fraud, scam, phishing and spoofing attempts seriously. If you receive correspondence you think may not be from Amazon, please report it immediately."

If you have received a "suspicious" phone call, email, or SMS/text message, this can be reported to Amazon on this webpage.

Thoughts

Questions for the reader:

• Have you ever been contacted in an email or by phone by someone claiming to be from Amazon? What did you do?
• Do you know anyone who has been scammed?

The purpose of this article is to keep you and your loved ones protected from ongoing scams.

Please share this article with family and friends so they can stay up-to-date on the latest scams.

Sources

Amazon "Report Something Suspicious" webpage. Date accessed: 9 September 2023.

Brookbank, Sarah. "Got a call from Amazon about fraud on your account? It could be a scam. Here's how to tell." Cincinnati Enquirer. 28 May 2021.

FOX 2 Staff. "Amazon scam: Troy woman scammed out of $300K in 2 months." FOX 2 News. 6 September 2023.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY EMAIL PHISHING SCAM

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

From: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
email: henrymarlingjr@gmail.com
Subject: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

MG  Timothy J. Lowenberg, Adjutant
General and Director State Military Department Washington Military Dept.,
Bldg1 Camp Murry, Wash USA.


Good Day To You,

I hope this email finds you in good spirit and in good health? because i
am quite aware of your losses in the past years now through this security
office intelligent track devices, it may surprise you tha    t i am also
aware of your Consignment Boxes Pursuit In Benin, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria,
Spain, France, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Korea and etc .My name Is Supp.
Tony Jeh Johnson,the Current secretary of U.S Department Of Homeland
Security  , i am in charge to monitor all Foreign Transactions In Africa
Europe And Asia and this kept me in constantly traveling round the world.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

I have been in The U.S. Department Of Homeland Security Secret Service now
since The Government of President Barack Obama, monitoring the various
transactions going on in Africa, Europe And Asia, most especially
Consignments Cases, A.T.M Card Cases And Bank Transfer. I do not intend to
spoil your day or to put you under duress. But you can not receive any of
your Consignments Boxes, A.T.M Card  And Bank Transfer  pursuit, without a
Clearance from this U.S Department Of Homeland Security. However, upon my
arrival in Benin Republic after series
of meetings with our President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary
General Ban Ki-Moon, due to numerous complains from other Security
Agencies from Africa Asia, Europe, Oceania, Antarctica,South America And
The United States Of America Respectively, and against the Benin
Government and Nigeria over the rate of Scam/Fraudulent Activities going
on in these Africa Countries and around the World.

When i arrive in the Benin Parliament in Cotonou and going through all
cases of unpaid funds, i found your Consignment Box Clearance File lying
on the Foreign Affair Office Desk without any attention and on a thorough
scrutiny, i discovered that your Consignment have been abandoned by your
delivery agent. Meanwhile, i was made to understand that the Foreign
Affair Office have tried to reach to you, but no way and they have made
several attempts to contact your delivery agent but to no avail. To my
greatest surprise, during my recent routine Re-Checking, i personally
discovered that your Consignment Content Declaration Document
(C.C.D.D)stated that your Consignment Contains Personal Effects meanwhile,
it contains United States Dollar Cash Us$40 Million Dollars,  (Forty
Million United States Dollars) which made it impossible for the
Consignment to be delivered to you earlier before now.

A Fabricated Story linking Phisher to U.S. Department of Homeland Security 

Based on this personal discovery, i am contacting you now to let you know
that with my position and power as the secretary of U.S Department Of
Homeland Security and now i am presently here in Benin Republic to handle
this  matter of all unpaid foreign payment to their respective owners like
you, i can assist you to legally clear your Consignment Funds and
personally make the shipment to you on my traveling back, but you must
agree with the following conditions. Because i have called our office in
Washington,Dc from here in Benin, who has been intercepting all your
E-Mail Communications, telephone Text/Sms messages & all telephone Calls,
with the help of Mtn, Tigo Vodafone And Airtel Network Benin. I also
received some information from our Homeland Security Office representing
here in Benin Republic, they have confirmed about your emails, & other
communications that you have been dealing and sending Money to people in
Benin, Ghana, South Africa, Togo,  Nigeria , UK & etc who claims to be the
Western Union Directors and representative of other unofficial offices.
You are also dealing with a Bank, and other names which i am still waiting
to be forwarded to me from Our Office In Washington,Dc. My office
authority have monitored all your dealings with those Hoodlums.

You are advice to from hence fort stop further dealings with all the above
mentioned people, until we complete our investigation. Because your
dealing with them is termed as illegal transaction. I wish to inform  you
that we the Homeland Security is on look out for all the above mentioned
names, mostly those who claims to be the director of West African Debt
settlement, Western Union And Money Gram And A.T.M Card offices and
including the property recovery Benin. All these mentioned people are
imposters, and we intend to apprehend them soon. I want you to please stop
communicating, and dealing with them until we complete our investigation.
I wish to notify you about the latest development concerning your
Consignment Box content of your total USD$40 Million that was already
handed over to me today. Your Consignment Box content of your total USD$40
Million was assigned to me today after the meeting held between me and
some of the top Parliament members of Benin and the Foreign Affair
Minister in the Benin Capital Commecial Headquarters Cotonou, due to the
delay by you as nobody has heared frommyou to receive your Consignment Box
For Long time now.

Accordingly, we have waived away all your Consignment Box "Clearance Fees"
and authorized the Government of Benin Republic to allow me fly with this
your approved Consignment Box to make the delivery to you without any
delay which they have agreed. The only Fee you will Pay to confirm Your
Consignment Box received in your possession is the "Air Flight Weight Fee"
of  your Consignment Box which is the sum of  USD$85.00 only. In order
words your Briefcase is with me now and i shall be coming to your country
to make the delivery to you as soon as you sent me your below shipping
details/Address where you will want your consignment be deliver to you.

Your Full Name: .........
Your Full Address:  ......
Your Direct Telephone Numbers: .............

Preferably, you can send us your Mobile Phone number to enable an urgent
direct  contact with you hence the arrival in your city. Hence i hear from
you also with the MTCN Numbers for the fee payment of  the Air Flight
Weight Fee of your Consignment Box which is the sum of  USD$85.00 only,
then, i will be coming along with your Consignment Briefcase  Box content
of your USD$40Million, but remember that as the secretary of The
Department Of Homeland Security United States Of America, i am a Us
Government Secret Security Agent and i have the power to go through any
Airport Customs and security Agents without personal inspection or
inspecting what i carry along.

And as soon as i arrive in your state, i will give you a telephone call
and instantly send an email to you from my official Ipad Hand Computer
which is always with me while traveling around the world so that you will
give me a direction on how we can meet Face to Face and i will physically
hand over your Consignment Box to you before proceeding back to to my
official duty Post in the States.
As soon as i arrive, i shall call you on your Telephone Number following
an email to you then when you immediately respond, i will Meet you in
person, hand  over your Consignment Box to you and all these will end once
and forall now.

I have taken this assignment upon myself because i understand that you
have really paid so much on the cost of these Delivery  which i want to
stop now, because, nothing was received by you. So be advised to contact
me hence immediately you get this email now because, every thing has been
done ok. Once you send the money, try to immediately notify me with the
Mtcn for easy pick up and for the immediate action on the delivery of your
Consignment Box,for you to receive your  Funds without any further delay
Again . Since you was unable to receive it since .

Send the fee of  USD$85.00 via Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer
using the below stated receivers name and information.

Receiver’s Name_____Chris Mezie
Country_________Benin
City__________Cotonou
Amount_______USD$85.00
Question_______ Urgent
Answer______Today
Mtcn_______
Sender's Name _____?
Sender's Address___?


As soon as you send the fee, make sure that you send me the MTCN numbers,
senders name and other payment information.Once you send the Money, Try to
immediately notify me with the Mtcn for confirmation and for the immediate
action on the shipping of your Consignment and its  Handing over to you.
Also you are to forward to    us any email that you have been receiving
from people for proper verification and investigation before you deal with
them okay.

Sincerely Yours,
CURRENT SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY USA.
Jeh Johnson official DHS portrait.jpg
From The U.S. Department Of Homeland Security.
I just arrived In The Benin Parliament In Cotonou