An impostor (also spelled imposter)[1] is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise, deceiving others by knowingly falsifying one or more aspects of their identity.[1] This is in contrast to someone that honestly believes their false identity due to psychosis (break from reality), mistake (e.g. mistakenly switched at birth, or memory problems), or having been lied to about their identity by another (e.g. by a parent, or kidnapper).
They may lie about their name, rank or title, profession, education, identity of family members or friends, social class, notoriety or influence, life experiences, abilities or achievements, their health history or disability (or that of their family members), citizenship or club membership, racial or ethnic background, religious or political affiliation, wealth or property ownership, tenancy or residency, past or current employment, charitable contributions, criminal or civil court history.
Reasons for imposture
Many impostors try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering or through means of identity theft, but also often for purposes of espionage or undercoverlaw enforcement. Their objective may be one of sexual gratification, giving a false name, false claim of being single or unwed, and/or false age in order to hide adultery, bigamy, or to catfish (e.g. a pedophile pretending to be a youth online[2]).
Those in witness protection, those fleeing abusers or persecution, and criminals evading arrest may also assume a false identity.
Economic migrants may pose as tourists (visitor visas) or as international students (international student visas with a non-accredited university or college).[3][4][5] As countries, like Canada, decrease their international student quotas, international students may imposture as asylum claimants.[6]
Some impostors may do it for pathological reasons, such as having a personality disorder that involves an excessive need for attention and emotional reactions from others (be it praise and/or sympathy), an excessive sense of self-importance or being special, an excessive sense of entitlement, an excessive need to control others, a lack of remorse or emotional empathy, chronic and frequent exaggeration or lying about one’s abilities or life events, and exploitativeness. These psychological conditions may include narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy and sociopathy), Munchausen syndrome (factitious disorder imposed on self) and Munchausen-by-proxy (factitious disorder imposed on another).[7][8][9][10][11]
As part of humorous stunts and media pranks, protesters have also engaged in imposture, often revealing their true identity at a later time.[12]
Many women in history have presented themselves as men in order to advance in typically male-dominated fields. There are many documented cases of this in the military during the American Civil War.[13] However, their purpose was rarely for fraudulent gain. They are listed in the List of wartime cross-dressers.
Spies have often pretended to be people other than they were. One famous case was that of Chevalier d'Eon (1728–1810), a French diplomat who successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman.
Historically, when military record-keeping was less accurate than today, some persons—primarily men—falsely claimed to be war veterans to obtain military pensions. Most did not make extravagant claims, because they were seeking money, not public attention that might expose their fraud. In the modern world, reasons for posing as a member of the military or exaggerating one's service record vary, but the intent is almost always to gain the respect and admiration of others.[14]
Scientists and filmmakers may also engage in imposture for the purposes of conducting a social experiment or public education. Revealing the deception to participants and/or public being a key part of the experiment. For instance, James Randi’s Project Alpha; Derren Brown’s Messiah, and Fear & Faith; or Vikram Gandhi’s Kumaré.
Notable impostors
False nationality claims
Princess Caraboo (1791–1864), Englishwoman who pretended to be a princess from a fictional island
Korla Pandit (1921–1998), African-American pianist/organist who pretended to be from India
Helen Darville (born 1972), Australian writer who falsely claimed Ukrainian ancestry as part of the basis of her novel The Hand that Signed the Paper about a Ukrainian family who collaborated with Nazis in the Holocaust
Misha Defonseca (born Monique de Wael, 1937) wrote a fraudulent autobiography in which she claimed to be a Jewish holocaust survivor, when in fact she has no Jewish descent and was born to Catholic parents. Her book, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, received international fame. A documentary, Misha and the Wolves, detailing the investigation into the fraud was released in 2021.[16]
Daniel Lewis James (1911–1988), novelist who wrote under the name Danny Santiago
Jessica A. Krug (aka Jess La Bombalera, born 1982), former associate professor at George Washington University who falsely claimed African, African-American, and Caribbean-American heritage throughout her career, despite being born to Jewish parents[18]
Sacheen Littlefeather (Marie Louise Cruz, 1946-2022), model and activist who rejected Marlon Brando's Academy Award at the 1973 Oscars out of protest. Her Apache Indian impersonation was not made public until her funeral, when her sisters asserted their Mexican descent.[19]
Andrea Smith, an American academic, feminist, and activist against violence who claimed Cherokee identity without proof or acceptance by the Cherokee nation[22]
Two Moon Meridas (c. 1888–1933), seller of herbal medicine who claimed that he was of Sioux birth
Alexis Brimeyer (1946–1995), Belgian who claimed connection to various European royal houses
Mary Carleton (1642–1673), who was, amongst other things, a false princess and bigamist
Count Dante (1939–1975) is the assumed name of John Keehan, who claimed to be descended from Spanish nobility. In his campaign to promote his system of martial arts, he also claimed victories in various secret deathmatches in Asia, and mercenary activity in Cuba, none of which was proven.
Suzanna Catharina de Graaff (1905–1968), was a Dutch woman who claimed to be the fifth daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra, born in 1903 when Alexandra was reported to have had a "hysterical pregnancy". There are no official or private records of Alexandra giving birth to any child at this time.
Anthony Gignac (1970), falsely took on the identity of Saudi prince Khalid bin Al Saud to entrap victims in investment scams and other schemes, currently serving an 18 year jail sentence[24]
Larissa Tudor, appeared strikingly similar to Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia but never actually claimed to be the former grand duchess. Many people who knew Larissa strongly suspected that she was the former grand duchess of Russia.
Belle Gibson (born 1991), an Australian alternative wellness advocate who falsely claimed to have survived multiple cancers without using conventional cancer treatments[28]
Brian Kim (born 1975/1976), lived in Christodora House in Manhattan, falsified documents identifying himself as the president-secretary of its condo association, and transferred $435,000 from the association's bank account to his own bank account[29]
Sante Kimes (1934-2014), impersonated various public figures and was convicted of murdering her own landlady, wealthy socialite Irene Silverman, in an apparent plot to assume Silverman's identity
Mandla Lamba, "fake billionaire" from South Africa who received media attention by claiming to be a successful mining tycoon.[30][31][32]
Victor Lustig (1890–1947), "The man who sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice."
Richard Allen Minsky (born 1944), who lured women into vulnerable situations by pretending to be people they knew, then lawyers representing them, and then raped them[33]
Gert Postel (born 1958), a mail carrier who posed as a medical doctor
Lobsang Rampa (1910–1981), formerly plumber Cyril Hoskins, who claimed to be possessed by the spirit of a deceased Tibetan lama and wrote a number of books based on that premise
James Reavis (1843–1914), master forger who used his real name but created a complex, fictitious history that pointed to him as the rightful owner of much of Arizona
Anna Sorokin (born 1991), posed as a fictitious wealthy heiress to fraudulently obtain loans, luxury goods, travel, and stays at exclusive hotels[34]
Brian Dennehy (1938–2020), American actor who enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1958, served in Okinawa, and never saw combat, but later falsely claimed to have been wounded in action in the Vietnam War[37][38]
Joseph Ellis (born 1943), American professor and historian who claimed a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, but who actually obtained an academic deferral of service and then taught history at West Point[40][41]
Jack Livesey (born 1954), British historian, military advisor on film productions, and author who claimed to have a distinguished twenty-year career in the Parachute Regiment, but actually served as a cook in the Army Catering Corps for three years[42]
Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957), U.S. senator who served in the Marine Corps during World War II as a Douglas SBD Dauntless tail gunner; broadly embellished his military accomplishments, notably by exaggerating his number of combat missions flown, falsifying official records to reflect these claims, obtaining combat decorations based on the falsified documents, and claiming that he broke his leg in action when the injury was sustained in a non-combat stairwell fall[44]
Sgt. Slaughter (born 1948 as Robert Remus), a professional wrestler with the gimmick of being a former U.S. Marine who fought in the Vietnam War, but never served in the military. Despite this, he has talked about military service while seeming to be speaking as himself, and not in kayfabe character.[46]
Eric von Stroheim, film director (The Merry Widow, 1925) and actor (Sunset Boulevard, 1950), who claimed to have been an Austrian imperial military officer, but never served in the military. He did portray German officers on-screen.
Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt (1849–1922), German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian officer in 1906 and became famous as "The Captain of Köpenick"
Ferdinand Waldo Demara (1921–1982), "The Great Impostor", who masqueraded as many people, from monks to surgeons to prison wardens
Christian Gerhartsreiter (born 1961), a serial impostor and convicted murderer who infamously posed as a member of the Rockefeller family and became the subject of several books[49]
Marvin Hewitt (1922–1991), who impersonated several academics and became a university physics professor
Stanley Clifford Weyman (1890–1960), American multiple impostor who impersonated public officials, including the U.S. Secretary of State and various military officers
Mamoru Samuragochi (born 1963), who claimed to be a "deaf composer", though it was later revealed that his hearing ability has already improved and most of his works were written by Takashi Niigaki, conductor of "Onimusha Soundtrack", produced by Samuragouchi.[50]
Nicolai Lilin (born 1980), an Italian-Moldovan writer who claimed to be the descendent of a Siberian ethnic group deported by the Soviet Union to Bender, Moldova in the 1930s, despite being of Polish origin and Bender having not been in the USSR at that time,[51] as well as claiming to be a veteran of the Second Chechen War, despite his name not appearing in any sources close to the Russian Ministry of Defence.[52][53]
Rahul Ligma, who pretended to be a fired Twitter employee, pranking major media outlets in 2022
Enric Marco (1921–2022), Spaniard who claimed to have been a prisoner in the Nazi German concentration camps Mauthausen and Flossenburg in World War II[57]
Stephen Rannazzisi (born 1978), American actor and comedian who claimed to be a survivor of the September 11 attacks[58]
Steven Jay Russell (born 1957), who has impersonated judges and a doctor, among others, and is known for escaping from prison multiple times[59]
George Santos (born 1988), Brazilian-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 claiming to be a college-educated financier, philanthropist and real estate investor as well as Jewish and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, who later admitted that he fabricated most of his résumé[60][61]
Arnaud du Tilh (1524–1560), who took the place of Martin Guerre in the mid-16th century and lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years before being discovered when Guerre returned
Anonymous members of the street theatre group Grevillea (unknown), posed as 'Elizabeth Lean' and other members of a fictitious group LILAC WA (Ladies In Line Against Communism WA) in the 1980s during a series of publicity stunts which fooled some journalists and led to coverage of the group's messages regarding billionaire Alan Bond, who was later imprisoned for fraud.[64]
↑ "Australia takes action on fraud in student visa system". ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment. 2023-08-29. Retrieved 2024-10-29. The trend the government is working at ending is known as "course hopping": a student gets a visa to study in a higher education programme or reputable VET programme but ends up being able to shift easily to an inexpensive, private college. Sometimes students do not even attend classes in the second type of institution, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as a "ghost college".
↑ Wallang, Paul; Taylor, Richard (May 2012). "Psychiatric and psychological aspects of fraud offending". Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. 18 (3): 183–192. doi:10.1192/apt.bp.111.008946. ISSN1355-5146. Fraud offences involving the appropriation of identity (impersonating a police officer, doctor, etc.) are more likely to involve possible pathological lying, especially if the motivation for the behaviour is difficult to discern…Personality disorder is the diagnosis most likely to be associated with fraud offenders, although stress-related disorders and substance misuse are also common, either in isolation or comorbid with a personality disorder.
↑ Freckelton, Ian (December 2018). "Impostors and Impersonators: Fake Health Practitioners and the Law". Journal of Law and Medicine. 26 (2): 407–432. ISSN1320-159X. PMID30574727. It may be that in many scenarios [of imposter health practitioners] the explanation lies more closely in personality disorders, especially those featuring grandiosity, including Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
↑ Tudor, H. G. (2023-08-27). "Knowing the Narcissist: Lies". HG Tudor - Knowing The Narcissist - The World's No.1 Resource About Narcissism. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
↑ Baxter, Holly (April 28, 2023). "Meet the 'race fakers' — and the people tracking them down". Independent. She [a proven non-Native woman] still claims that she is Native to this day. What causes such behavior, I ask? Keeler shakes her head. She says she can only speculate, and that it seems like a "personality disorder, really akin to narcissism".
↑ Henry Mark Holzer (August 9, 2012). Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service. Madison Press. ISBN978-0985243784.
↑ Leo, Geoff; Guerriero, Linda (27 October 2023). "Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie". CBC News. Canadian Broadcast Company. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
↑ Burkett, B. G. (September 2, 1998). Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History (1sted.). Verity Pr Inc. ISBN096670360X.
↑ David W. Dunlap and Serge F. Kovalevski (September 27, 2007). "In a 9/11 Survival Tale, the Pieces Just Don't Fit". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2007. Tania Head's story, as shared over the years with reporters, students, friends and hundreds of visitors to ground zero, was a remarkable account of both life and death.
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