In 2024, it’s not uncommon to maintain a deep friendship with someone you met online but may never have met in person. At best, this can lead to unexpected connections and enriching conversations with people you might never have met a generation or two ago. At worst, however, it can lead to betrayal. Perhaps the most prominent example of this occurred a decade ago, when soccer player Manti Te’o learned that his girlfriend’s tragic death had never happened because she never existed.

This is by no means the only case in which a non-existent person has caused confusion online; the show catfish — based on a documentary of the same name — has been running on MTV for nine seasons. And screenwriter Josh Olson’s 2007 novel The Life and Death of Jesse James now reads like a disturbing precursor to the years to come. And now the video game world seems to be on the brink of its own scandal involving one — and possibly several — prominent figures.

In an investigation published at IGN, Grant Stoner tackled a very serious question: whether a prominent advocate for accessibility in video games may never have existed. The investigation centers on a deaf gamer and advocate named Susan Banks, who – according to her partner Coty Craven – died in 2019. Since then, things have become more complicated. “Mounting evidence and testimony from people close to her work suggest that she was not the person she claimed to be,” Stoner wrote. “In fact, some are convinced that Banks may never have existed.”

As Stoner reports, the people who interviewed Banks for the news stories communicated with her through Craven. That Banks communicated with journalists through third parties isn’t particularly suspicious in and of itself. Combined with some of the other details in the article — including that a hospital where Banks had major surgery had no record of her being a patient there — it reads more like a pattern.

There’s also the matter of two other women Craven has been in public relationships with since 2019, where there’s also a pattern of nominally verifiable details – including therapeutic licenses and a family member’s obituary – that couldn’t be verified. As Stoner writes, Craven has deleted a number of his social media accounts since the IGN investigation came to light, which also raises some questions.

Baker’s work has had a positive impact on disability representation in the gaming world, Stoner said. “From awards to recognition to funds provided to supposed partners, Craven has established himself as an authority on accessibility,” Stoner wrote. The fact that years of work may be backed by a long-term and complex fraud case complicates matters enormously – and gives a community a lot to deal with.