Sounds like the way the DR Govt would handle this type of situation, so it doesn't surprise me. To this day and for many years before, lots of people suggested that the way to solve any problem here was to throw cash at it. Sure that may get you out of a traffic ticket or other minor inconvenience but following this advice when it comes to official processes and documents is fraught with peril.
There is a big difference between a traffic infraction and residency/citizenship applications. While it was and may still be possible to find a DGM employee who is prepared to smooth over the requirements and produce a valid looking identity card, sooner or later there is a good change that such a shortcut will invalidate the card and one's status going back to day 1. Yep, start all over even if it has been decades before the fraud was discovered. Worse, the applicant may not even be aware of the fraud. It's not unheard of here for unscrupulous lawyers/facilitators to fudge the process to make things easier for themselves and to deliver a successful outcome to those who would either have needed more documentation or might have been denied outright.
Citizenship based on fraudulent residency or as the case may have been years ago citizenship granted to an incomplete file or unqualified applicant isn't unheard of. It's a shame and a very real inconvenience for someone who for years has not suspected that anything is amiss with their immigration status. I mean who would think of problems after years of successful residency or cedula renewals?
But alas, anything is possible here especially when it comes to bureaucracy. One cannot assume that someone you hire to look out for your best interests will actually do that. You cannot assume that no issues this year with renewing your residency or cedula means no problems ever. Those who obtained immigration status in this country years ago may well find that some shenanigans were involved with their applications back in the day when graft and corruption was more rampant than it is today.
The moral of this story is that yes you can be bitten by the dog you never see. Yes it will be a p.i.a to correct. Those who deliberately try to circumvent the system for whatever reason should accept that someday they may be found out. Those that were taken advantage of unbeknownst to them by con artists posing as lawyers and corrupt DGM officials are in just as much difficulty as the former group. This is the DR. It is often hard to know for sure whats what and even harder to verify that.
I cannot see why we won't be hearing more of these stories as time goes on and DGM continues to update their computer systems. No matter how you frame it, a divide by zero error is still an error and the computer will always kick it out.
