A woman looked up her best friend’s date after he brushed off a felony, and she says she found 23 domestic violence charges

A woman on Reddit’s r/GirlDinnerDiaries says she looked into her best friend’s date after he mentioned he could not get a passport because of a felony conviction, as detailed by Daily Dot. The man reportedly brushed off the admission as something minor from his past, but the friend decided to check the claim herself. What she says she found led to the date being canceled entirely.

According to her post, the situation began during a FaceTime call, when her friend mentioned she was planning to meet up with a man she had been talking to since connecting on Instagram a couple of years earlier. The man had allegedly told her he could not obtain a passport because of a felony, describing it as something minor that happened when he was younger, and her friend did not press him for further details.

The woman wrote that she has family members who have been incarcerated, which made her more familiar with reading into vague explanations like his. She said she decided to look into his background herself rather than take his account at face value, and what she found allegedly described a record far removed from a single youthful mistake, including multiple domestic violence charges dating back more than a decade. After learning this, her friend canceled the date.

Passport restrictions tied to a felony are more limited than most people assume

The U.S. Department of State maintains a namecheck system that allows law enforcement agencies to flag a person’s passport application, though this process is typically initiated by police rather than the general public. Agencies requesting a denial or limitation must provide specific details, including statutory citations for the alleged offense and contact information for the officer overseeing the case.

Amid a broader wave of viral posts about people verifying a stranger’s claims, other stories have covered similar moments of public skepticism, including a tourist bracelet scam attempt that also relied on someone taking a claim at face value. Law enforcement can also request that an existing passport be revoked under specific regulations, which require details such as the subject’s name, aliases, date of birth, and copies of relevant court orders or warrants.

In some cases, a passport may be held as evidence during an active investigation before being returned once it is no longer needed. Viral disputes involving a partner’s alleged behavior have drawn similar attention online recently, including a boyfriend stranding her overseas after a vacation dispute.

Reddit users who responded to the original post were largely supportive of the woman’s decision to look into the man’s background before her friend went on the date. Several commenters said the quick check may have prevented a more dangerous situation from unfolding.

The friend ultimately declined to go through with the date after learning of the alleged charges. The man has not publicly responded to the claims made in the post.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the man’s side of the story, as this originates solely from a Reddit post.