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(Redirected from Imposters) List of people acting under false identity "Impostor" and "Imposter" redirect here. For other uses, see Impostor (disambiguation).

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An impostor (also spelled imposter) 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. 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 undercover law 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).

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). As countries, like Canada, decrease their international student quotas, international students may imposture as asylum claimants.

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).

As part of humorous stunts and media pranks, protesters have also engaged in imposture, often revealing their true identity at a later time.

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. 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.

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
George Psalmanazar (1679–1763), who claimed to be from Taiwan
Micheál Mac Liammóir (1899–1978), notable actor in Ireland, born in England as Alfred Willmore but falsified an Irish birth and identity

False minority national identity claims

Joseph Boyden (born 1966), Canadian writer who falsely claimed First Nations ancestry
H. G. Carrillo (1960–2020), American writer and assistant professor of English at George Washington University who claimed to be a Cuban immigrant despite having been born in Detroit to American parents
Asa Earl Carter (1925–1979), who under the alias of supposedly Cherokee writer Forrest Carter authored several books, including The Education of Little Tree
Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance (1890–1932), an African American who claimed to be the son of a Blackfoot chief
Iron Eyes Cody (1904–1999), Italian American actor (the "crying Indian chief" in the "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements in the early 1970s), who claimed to be of Cherokee-Cree ancestry
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.
Rachel Dolezal (born 1977), former president of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington, who claimed African-American heritage despite being born to white parents
Grey Owl (1888–1938), born Archibald Belaney, an Englishman who took on the identity of an Ojibwe
Jamake Highwater (1931–2001), writer and journalist, born Jackie Marks into an Ashkenazi family who later claimed he was a Cherokee American Indian
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
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.
BethAnn McLaughlin, neuroscientist who impersonated a bisexual Native American using the Twitter handle "@Sciencing_bi"
Red Thunder Cloud (1919–1996), an African American who claimed to be the last speaker of the Catawba language
Buffy Sainte-Marie (born 1941), an American singer-songwriter who claimed to be Canadian with Canadian Indigenous Ancestry
Andrea Smith, an American academic, feminist, and activist against violence who claimed Cherokee identity without proof or acceptance by the Cherokee nation
Two Moon Meridas (c. 1888–1933), seller of herbal medicine who claimed that he was of Sioux birth

False royal heritage claims

Fraudsters

Frank Abagnale (born 1948), who passed bad checks as a fake pilot, doctor, and lawyer
Joseph Ady (1770–1852), notorious English impostor and postal fraudster
Gerald Barnbaum (1933–2018), former pharmacist who posed as a doctor for over twenty years, assuming the identities of various licensed physicians
Alessandro Cagliostro (1743–1795), Italian adventurer and self-styled magician
Cassie Chadwick (1857–1907), who pretended to be Andrew Carnegie's daughter
Ravi Desai, (active 1996-2002), a journalist who posed as Robert Klinger, fictitious chief executive officer of BMW's North American division, in a series of articles for Slate magazine
Belle Gibson (born 1991), an Australian alternative wellness advocate who falsely claimed to have survived multiple cancers without using conventional cancer treatments
David Hampton (1964–2003), who pretended to be the son of Sidney Poitier
Joseph "Harry" Jelinek (1905–1986), who is alleged to have fraudulently sold the Karlstejn Castle to American industrialists
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
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.
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
Arthur Orton (1834–1898), also known as the Tichborne Claimant, who claimed to be the missing heir Sir Roger Tichborne
Paul Palaiologos Tagaris (c. 1320/40 – after 1394), Orthodox monk, claimed to be a member of the Palaiologos dynasty, pretended to be the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, later succeeded in being named Latin Patriarch of Constantinople
Frederick Emerson Peters (1885–1959), U.S. celebrity impersonator and writer of bad checks
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
Leander Tomarkin (1895–1967), fake doctor who became the personal physician of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, and convinced Albert Einstein to assume the honorary presidency of one of his medical conferences

Military impostors

Main article: Military impostors

Joseph A. Cafasso (born 1956), former Fox News military analyst who claimed to have been a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and Vietnam War veteran, but actually served in the army for only 44 days in 1976
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
George Dupre (1903–1982), who claimed that he worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the French Resistance during World War II (WWII); Dupre served in World War II, but he was never in France, nor with the SOE
Frank Dux (born 1956), Canadian-American martial artist who served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in non-combat roles, but claimed in his memoir The Secret Man that he had fought in covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) special operations in Southeast Asia, Nicaragua, the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War; his claims drew a rare public denial from the CIA describing them as "preposterous".
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
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
Jesse Macbeth (born 1984), anti-war activist who claimed to be a United States Army Ranger and veteran of the Iraq War, but was actually discharged from the army before completing basic training
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
Alan Mcilwraith (born 1978), a call centre worker from Glasgow who, among other things, claimed that he was a decorated captain in the British Army; he never served in the military
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.
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"
Micah Wright (born 1974), anti-war activist who claimed to have been an Army Ranger involved in the United States invasion of Panama and several special operations; he was a Reserve Officers' Training Corps student in college, but never served in the military

Multiple impostors

Frédéric Bourdin (born 1974), "the French Chameleon"
Barry Bremen (1947–2011), known in the sports world as "The Great Imposter", after pretending to be an MLB umpire, an NBA All-Star, and a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, among other things
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
Marvin Hewitt (born 1922), 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
Laurel Rose Willson (1941–2002), who claimed to be "Lauren Stratford", a victim of satanic ritual abuse, and later as Holocaust survivor "Laura Grabowski"
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.
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, 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.

Others

Bampfylde Moore Carew (1693–1759), a Devonshire man whose popular Life and Adventures included picaresque episodes of vagabond life, including his claim to have been elected King of the Beggars
Alan Conway (1934–1998), who impersonated Stanley Kubrick during the early 1990s
Misha Defonseca (born 1937) Belgian Catholic woman who took the identity of a Jewish Holocaust survivor
Alicia Esteve Head (born 1973), Spanish woman who claimed to be a survivor of the September 11 attacks, under the name Tania Head
James Frey (born 1969) American writer who presented himself as a reformed convict and drug addict, who in actuality had no criminal record
Martin Gray (1921–2016), Polish Jew who falsely claimed to have been imprisoned in Treblinka extermination camp
Kaspar Hauser (1812–1833), German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell
Robert Hendy-Freegard (born 1971), English barman, car salesman and conman who masqueraded as a MI5 agent
James Hogue (born 1959), who entered Princeton University by posing as a self-taught orphan
Paul Jordan-Smith (1885–1971), father of the hoax art movement called Disumbrationism
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
Brian MacKinnon (born c. 1963), who at the age of thirty attended Bearsden Academy by posing as a teenager
Rosemarie Pence (born 1938), American woman who falsely claimed to have been a German Jew imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp, and told her stories in an authorized biography Hannah: From Dachau to the Olympics and Beyond
Stephen Rannazzisi (born 1978), American actor and comedian who claimed to be a survivor of the September 11 attacks
Steven Jay Russell (born 1957), who has impersonated judges and a doctor, among others, and is known for escaping from prison multiple times
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
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
Donald J. Watt (1918–2000), Australian soldier who claimed to have been a Sonderkommando at Auschwitz concentration camp
Binjamin Wilkomirski (born 1941), who adopted a constructed identity as a Holocaust survivor and published author
Gabriel Wortman (1968–2020), Canadian denturist who masqueraded as a police officer and drove a bogus Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser while perpetrating the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks
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.

In fiction

Main page: Category:Fictional impostors

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External links

The Fake Warrior Project, POW Network

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