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* [[Robert Hendy-Freegard]], who posed as an [[MI5]] officer.
* [[Robert Hendy-Freegard]], who posed as an [[MI5]] officer.
* [[John Howard Griffin]], who darkened his skin and travelled in the American South as a black man in 1959 to write ''[[Black Like Me]]''.
* [[John Howard Griffin]], who darkened his skin and travelled in the American South as a black man in 1959 to write ''[[Black Like Me]]''.
* [[Alicia Esteve Head]], known as Tania Head, who claimed to be a survivor of the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 terror attacks]].
* [[Paul Jordan-Smith|Pavel Jerdanowitch]], the father of the [[Disumbrationism|Disumbrationist]] movement.
* [[Paul Jordan-Smith|Pavel Jerdanowitch]], the father of the [[Disumbrationism|Disumbrationist]] movement.
* [[Ashida Kim]], believed by many to be Caucasian author and self-proclaimed ninja Radford Davis (alternate pen name Christopher Hunter), who wrote numerous books on [[ninjutsu]] during the '70s and '80s, noted for refusing to provide details about his teachers, or the lineage of the martial art in which he claims expertise.
* [[Ashida Kim]], believed by many to be Caucasian author and self-proclaimed ninja Radford Davis (alternate pen name Christopher Hunter), who wrote numerous books on [[ninjutsu]] during the '70s and '80s, noted for refusing to provide details about his teachers, or the lineage of the martial art in which he claims expertise.

Revision as of 03:09, 30 January 2013

An impostor (also spelled imposter or, in early usage imposture) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but just as often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement.

Exposing impostors

In 1910 Bram Stoker (the author of Dracula), published a book of nonfiction called Famous Impostors which deals with the subject of exposing various impostors and hoaxes.[1]

Notable impostors

Fraudsters

File:Korla pandit snader telescriptions.png
Korla Pandit

False Nationality Claims

Frits Holm (1881–1930), Danish adventurer and self-styled "Duke of Colachine"

False Royal Heritage Claims

Academic impostors

  • Dr Charlotte Bach, a fringe evolutionary theorist who was not a doctor.
  • Marvin Hewitt, who became a university professor without any credentials.
  • James Hogue, who most famously entered Princeton University by posing as a self-taught orphan.
  • Marilee Jones, Dean of Admissions at MIT and best-selling author who claimed advanced degrees in science fields. After ten years in the post, she was revealed to have only a high school diploma.
  • Azia Kim, who pretended to be a Stanford University student for 8 months before being discovered. [2]
  • Timothy Leslie McCormack, bogus aircraft engineer who personally conducted or signed off on dozens of maintenance checks on Qantas planes before being discovered. He had only passed one basic exam, and later was found to have forged character references in order to receive a lesser sentence.[3][4][5]
  • Lana Nguyen, who became a university professor with the credentials of her husband. She resigned when students complained of her lack of knowledge on the subject she taught.[6]
  • Adam Wheeler, who transferred to Harvard University by pretending to attend M.I.T. and to have graduated from Phillips Academy, and submitted false SAT scores.[7]

False minority national identity claims

Multiple impostors

Women who lived as men

Many women in history have presented themselves as men in order to advance in typically male-dominated fields. It is unknown whether they identified as transgender in the current sense. See also: List of wartime cross-dressers.

Military impostors

  • Joseph A. Cafasso, former Fox News military analyst who claimed to have been a highly-decorated Special Forces soldier and Vietnam War veteran. He actually served in the U.S. Army for only 44 days.
  • Wes Cooley, a former US Congressman who claimed to have fought in the Korean War. He served in the U.S. Army for two years, but was never in Korea.
  • Arthur Rex Crane, former President of the Ex POW Association of Australia who claimed to have been captured by the Japanese and sent to work on the Burma Railway during WWII in order to claim service and disability pension payments. He was at school in Adelaide during the war and never served in the military.[11][12]
  • Brian Dennehy, a famous American actor who claimed to have fought in the Vietnam War. He served in the United States Marine Corps for four years, but was never in Vietnam.
  • George Dupre, who claimed that he worked for the SOE and the French Resistance during World War II. Dupre served in World War II, but he was never in France or with the SOE.
  • Joseph Ellis, American professor and historian who claimed a tour of duty in the Vietnam War. He served in the military during the war, but never left the United States.
  • Jeff "Rock" Harris, personal trainer and body building judge who claimed to have been a highly decorated Army Ranger who earned numerous commendations during Operation Restore Hope. These claims have been refuted by Raleigh Cash and Matt Eversmann, two soldiers who served during the Battle of Mogadishu.[13][14]
  • Jesse Macbeth, anti-war activist who claimed to be an Army Ranger ordered to execute innocent civilians in Iraq. He was discharged from the Army as unfit for duty before completing basic training.
  • Alan Mcilwraith, a call centre worker from Glasgow who, among other things, claimed that he was a decorated captain in the British Army. Mcilwraith had never served in the military.
  • James Shortt, Director-General of the International Bodyguard Association, who at various times made false claims to have served in the British Special Air Service, Parachute Regiment and military and law enforcement units around the world. Shortt also made false claims to a number of knighthoods and titles of nobility as well academic, medical and martial arts qualifications before being exposed in the media after being dismissed as a consultant by Eye Spy Magazine in 2009. Shortt's actual military experience only amounted to a few months' part-time service in the British Territorial Army, during which time he did not complete basic training. Shortt also styled himself as the "Colonel-Commandant" of a fictitious ancient order of bodyguards pledging their loyalty to the bogus Irish chieftain Terence Francis MacCarthy.
  • Robert Stanley, who has stolen the identities of actual Navy SEALs and others, and along with his wife, Jennifer L. Stanley, frequently claims that they were or are Navy SEALs. There is no record of anyone by the name of Robert Stanley listed in the SEAL Database, and there never have been any female Navy SEALs as of 2012.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt was a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as The Captain of Köpenick.
  • Micah Wright, an anti-war activist who claimed to be an Army Ranger involved in the United States invasion of Panama and several other covert operations. He was an ROTC student in college, but never took a commission and never served in the military.

Others

  • Bampfylde Moore Carew, 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, who impersonated Stanley Kubrick during the early 1990s.
  • Chevalier d'Eon, who lived the second half of his life as a woman.
  • Anoushirvan D. Fahkran, a 27-year-old Iranian porn actor who legally changed his name to Jonathan Taylor Spielberg and posed as the 14-year-old nephew of legendary Hollywood director Steven Spielberg to enroll in high school.
  • Lewis Peter "Buddy" Morgan, who started impersonating Randy Meisner, the former bass player of the Eagles in 1988. His identity was not conclusively revealed until 1997, after which he was arrested and spent 16 months in jail, but upon his release continued his charade and was still doing so as of 2006.
  • Robert Hendy-Freegard, who posed as an MI5 officer.
  • John Howard Griffin, who darkened his skin and travelled in the American South as a black man in 1959 to write Black Like Me.
  • Alicia Esteve Head, known as Tania Head, who claimed to be a survivor of the 9/11 terror attacks.
  • Pavel Jerdanowitch, the father of the Disumbrationist movement.
  • Ashida Kim, believed by many to be Caucasian author and self-proclaimed ninja Radford Davis (alternate pen name Christopher Hunter), who wrote numerous books on ninjutsu during the '70s and '80s, noted for refusing to provide details about his teachers, or the lineage of the martial art in which he claims expertise.
  • Enric Marco, who presided over an association of Spanish survivors of the Nazi camps when he went to Germany to work in the Nazi war industry.
  • Guerdwich Montimere, a 22-year-old man who posed as homeless 16-year-old orphan Jerry Joseph and became the star of the Permian Panthers high school basketball team.[15]
  • Louis de Rougemont, who claimed to be an explorer.
  • Steven Jay Russell, who has impersonated judges and a doctor among others.
  • Treva Throneberry, a 31-year-old woman who became 16-year-old Brianna Stewart and impersonated other teenage girls.
  • Arnaud du Tilh, who took the place of Martin Guerre in the 16th century and lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years before being discovered when Guerre returned.
  • Graham Tumber, who despite looking nothing at all like him and despite using his own name, impersonated Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi for a year, duping Dover district council into providing free hospitality and transport services after promising to appear at a charity concert in the town.[16]
  • Binjamin Wilkomirski, a fake Holocaust survivor.

In fiction

Books

Film

See also

References

  1. ^ "Famous Impostors". London: Sidgwick and Jackson. 1910. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Student Imposter Lives at Stanford University for Eight Months". foxnews.com. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  3. ^ Byron, By (2008-12-04). "Qantas phony uses MP as referee". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  4. ^ "Fake Qantas engineer jailed". Heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  5. ^ "Fake character references earn Walter Mitty real jail time". Smh.com.au. 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  6. ^ "The E-Carillon". Carillon.uregina.ca. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  7. ^ Jacques Steinberg and Katie Zezima (May 18, 2010). "Campuses Ensnared by Life of Deception". New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  8. ^ Bogus Astronaut. ABC News, June 8, 2008.
  9. ^ A High-flying phony pulls 1 over on NASA. New York Daily News, June 4, 1998.
  10. ^ Man poses as astronaut steals NASA secrets. Reuters, June 4, 1998.
  11. ^ November 26, 2010 3:08PM (2010-11-26). "Fake POW pleads gulity to 21 year pension fraud". Couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 2012-06-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Mark, By (2010-12-21). "Fake POW gets real jail time for $460,000 welfare fraud". News.com.au. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  13. ^ "Kinston resident recalls extraordinary experiences in Army". Webcache.googleusercontent.com. 2012-06-13. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  14. ^ "Veterans contest 'Black Hawk' story". Kinston.com. 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2012-06-26.
  15. ^ Posted: 7:02 AM, May 12, 2010 (2010-05-12). "Teen high school basketball star is 22-year-old impostor". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2012-06-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Rebecca Camber (2008-11-14). "Conman posing as Status Quo star enjoys free meals and trips in mayor's limousine after tricking entire town for a whole year | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-09-12.