Criminals undone by typos
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Criminals Undone by Typos — Daily trivia Sunday, May 17, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Who received the wrong-number text in which an Arizona man tried to sell heroin from his home?
- AA local news reporter
- BA parole officer
- CThe county sheriff
- DHis mother
Show answer
A parole officer
Christopher Willmon had texted a phone belonging to Arizona parole officers, who alerted narcotics deputies; they found him hiding in a shed with the heroin, and seven people were arrested.
Q 02Which word did the 'Spelling Bee Bandit' repeatedly misspell in his bank demand notes?
- AMoney
- BQuickly
- CTeller
- DRobbery
Show answer
Robbery
His demand notes spelled robbery as 'robery'; he robbed four Massachusetts banks in late 2016 and was sentenced in 2018.
Q 03What typo got an 86-year-old woman convicted over her car insurance?
- AShe typed an 'F' instead of an 'S'
- BShe omitted a digit from the plate
- CShe reversed two numbers
- DShe used a '0' instead of an 'O'
Show answer
She typed an 'F' instead of an 'S'
She typed an 'F' instead of an 'S' in her Suzuki Splash's number plate, so a year's cover was technically invalid, and a magistrate convicted her in a private fast-track hearing.
Q 04Which word, misspelled on the anonymous note that led police to Susan Berman's body, also appeared misspelled in a Robert Durst letter?
- AGalveston
- BBeverly
- CCadaver
- DBenedict
Show answer
Beverly
The envelope to the Beverly Hills police read 'Beverley'. During filming of The Jinx, Berman's stepson found a 1999 letter from Durst with the identical error, and in 2019 Durst's lawyers finally admitted he wrote the cadaver note.
Q 05Which domestic terrorist was caught after his brother recognised the prose style of his manifesto?
- ATimothy McVeigh
- BDylann Roof
- CTed Kaczynski
- DEric Rudolph
Show answer
Ted Kaczynski
Ted Kaczynski's 35,000-word manifesto ran in The Washington Post in 1995; his brother David recognised the writing, and a lawyer the family hired tipped off the FBI.
Q 06Which word did Florida bank robber Robert C. Whitney keep misspelling in his notes to tellers?
- ADeny
- BDebt
- CDye
- DDry
Show answer
Dye
His notes warned 'If a die pack blows, so do you', and confusing dye with die in the same wording linked him to three bank robberies.
Q 07Which misspelled word gave away the forged note a London poisoner claimed her husband wrote, refusing CPR?
- ADignity
- BResuscitate
- CHospital
- DSincerely
Show answer
Dignity
The typed note spelled dignity as 'dignerty', and Jacqueline Patrick made the same mistake when police asked her to spell it; she got 15 years for poisoning her husband with antifreeze.
Q 08What type of digital information on a floppy disk helped expose the BTK Killer, Dennis Rader?
- AMetadata from a document
- BDeleted browsing history
- CEncrypted chat logs
- DHidden audio files
Show answer
Metadata from a document
When Rader asked if a floppy disk could be traced, police answered in a newspaper ad, 'Rex, it will be ok'; metadata from a deleted document on it named 'Dennis' and Christ Lutheran Church.
Q 09Which slip let an IRS investigator link Silk Road's 'Dread Pirate Roberts' to Ross Ulbricht's real name?
- APosting a selfie on the Silk Road forum
- BLeaving the server's IP unmasked
- CUsing his real name in a Bitcoin transfer
- DA forum post under 'altoid' giving his email
Show answer
A forum post under 'altoid' giving his email
IRS agent Gary Alford traced 'altoid', an early Silk Road promoter, to a forum post under that name giving his email address: [email protected].
Q 10Which word did the Bangladesh Bank hackers misspell in a payee's name, stopping a $20 million transfer?
- AFederation
- BFoundation
- CFabrication
- DFundraising
Show answer
Foundation
The payee was typed as 'Shalika Fandation' instead of Foundation, so Deutsche Bank halted it and asked Bangladesh Bank to check; the thieves still got about US$81 million out via the Philippines.
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