Kelsey Byron (@kelclight), a TikTok influencer from Tennessee, had her identity stolen by a cleaning lady in 2023. In a video with over 85,000 views, she explained how the “craziest thing that has ever happened” to her in her life actually happened.
It started with a message she sent out on her city’s “girls’ group,” which led to a recommendation for a house cleaner. Bryon hired the recommended service provider, and everything was fine. Byron noted that the woman she hired was “around [her] age” and incredibly friendly. In September, Byron requested that the woman do a move-out clean.
When the group set up an open house, the cleaner had brought her sister to help with the cleaning process. One of Byron’s friends noticed that the sister “didn’t really look like she was cleaning.” Instead, she was talking to her and a friend who was over during the time of the move-in. After that point, Bryon decided to look for other cleaners, as she didn’t feel like the cleaner was actually cleaning her house.
Later, in January 2024, Bryon’s family went on a trip to Mexico, which resulted in a strange encounter. Bryon’s sister got a call that was supposedly from Byron, “begging” for help. A man spoke on the line and said that Byron’s sister would need to pay $1,500 for Byron’s release. Byron’s sister paid for her “release,” as they didn’t know what to do in the situation.
Things start getting weird
Around February and March, Bryon said she started to get weird credit card bills that didn’t add up. After that point, Byron’s credit score suddenly changed. An unknown person had applied for multiple credit cards in her name without her knowledge. Byron put a lock on all of her accounts due to the identity theft issues.
After taking some more time to investigate, Byron noticed that one of the cards that went through was a Home Depot credit card that felt especially suspicious to her. It had been open for four months, and it was paid for every month. She then got a call from a police officer at a different county’s police station, who asked her about the cleaning service that she had originally gotten on Facebook.
The sheriff explained to her that another woman hired the cleaning service to clean their house, only for the woman to steal all of their personal possessions.
“She stole a bunch of bags. She stole money from them,” Byron explained. Byron then realized that it was likely that the cleaning service had stolen her identity.
The cleaning service also allegedly put Byron’s phone number down as the number for the service when they completed other orders, meaning she was now indirectly accused of stealing from other homes. Byron had to send multiple screenshots to the other woman to show that she did not steal anything from her.
Other women involved eventually posted in the Facebook group asking if anyone had a similar experience. A large number of women came forward claiming that the cleaning lady stole from them.
The saga continues
Byron eventually reverse image searched the girl she originally hired as a cleaning lady and found out that she had used her boyfriend’s address to apply for a variety of credit cards. Byron contacted the police, who then proceeded to send the information to the FBI. During the time that she was waiting for further action on her case, the cleaning lady proceeded to change her Venmo to Byron’s name.
During one incident where Byron was pulled over for having an expired registration, she was questioned about the cleaning lady’s actions. At this point, the woman had completely assumed Byron’s identity and committed a multitude of crimes under her name. Byron talked extensively with the police officer about the issue, saying, “Thank God that cop was cool,” about the situation. The girl had gotten a scannable ID in Byron’s name, among other items. By that point, Byron had to go back into the police station to add additional information, as her life was becoming severely impaired by the event.
Ultimately, the event prevented Byron from getting a new registration for her car or using her identity in most capacities. She had trouble at the DMV and had to beg for assistance regarding her identity issue. One of the staff members at the DMV recognized the cleaning lady after Byron showed her a photo.
“She died last month. I got custody of her son today,” the DMV worker apparently explained. By that point, the situation had hit near astronomically bad luck. The DMV worker proceeded to assist Byron with her license. After the encounter, she called everyone within her social circles to explain that the identity thief had died.
@kelclight Buckle up!!!!!!
♬ original sound – Kelsey Byron
TikTok commenters react
@Lauren Barbaro raised an interesting point, saying, “ Kelsey I’m legit worried that she may have taken out life insurance policies with your social and someone near to her [such as her boyfriend] could have had something to do with her death and could try to get the benefits of the life insurance policies under your identity.”
Bronwyn Pilgrim agreed, saying, “Make sure the sketchy af boyfriend doesn’t still have info or was in on it with her. Truly the most insane story, I hope it all works out and gets sorted.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Byron for comment.
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