List of impostors

An impostor (also spelled imposter)^[1] is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise.

Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering or through means of identity theft, but also often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement.

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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 Formosa
Micheál Mac Liammóir (1899–1978), notable actor in Ireland, born in England as Alfred Willmore but invented 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^[2]
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 where 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.^[3]
Rachel Dolezal (born 1977), former president of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington, who claimed African-American heritage despite being born to white parents^[4]
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^[5]
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.^[6]
BethAnn McLaughlin, neuroscientist who impersonated a bisexual Native American using the Twitter handle "@Sciencing_bi"^[7]
Red Thunder Cloud (1919–1996), an African American who claimed to be the last speaker of the Catawba language
Andrea Smith, an American academic, feminist, and activist against violence who claimed Cherokee identity without proof or acceptance by the Cherokee nation^[8]
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^[10]
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^[11]
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^[12]
Belle Gibson (born 1991), an Australian alternative wellness advocate who falsely claimed to have survived multiple cancers without using conventional cancer treatments^[13]
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^[14]
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.^[15]^[16]^[17]
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^[18]
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^[19]
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^[20]

Wartime impostors and spies

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.^[21] 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.

Military impostors

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.^[22]

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^[23]
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^[24]^[25]
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".^[26]
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^[27]^[28]
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^[29]
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^[30]
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^[31]
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^[32]
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^[33]

Multiple impostors

Frédéric Bourdin (born 1974), "the French Chameleon"^[34]
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^[35]
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.^[36]

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^[37]^[38]
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^[39]
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^[40]
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^[41]
Steven Jay Russell (born 1957), who has impersonated judges and a doctor, among others, and is known for escaping from prison multiple times^[42]
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^[43]^[44]
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^[45]
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^[46]

In fiction

References

^ "Definition of impostor". Merriam-Webster. December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ Jackson, Lauren Michele (12 September 2020). "The Layered Deceptions of Jessica Krug, the Black-Studies Professor Who Hid That She Is White". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
^ Eskin, Blake (2008-08-18). "The Girl Who Cried Wolf: A Holocaust Fairy Tale". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
^ "Rachel Dolezal Admits She Was 'Biologically Born White' but Maintains That She Identifies as Black".
^ Lauren Lumpkin and Susan Svrluga (2020-09-03). "White GWU professor admits she falsely claimed Black identity". The Washington Post.
^ Keeler, Jacqueline (22 October 2022). "Sacheen Littlefeather was a Native American icon. Her sisters say she was an ethnic fraud". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
^ Bromwich, Jonah Engel; Marcus, Ezra (August 4, 2020). "The Anonymous Professor Who Wasn't". The New York Times.
^ Jaschik, Scott (6 July 2015). "Fake Cherokee? Scholar who has made name as Cherokee is accused of not having Native American roots". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
^ "Fake Saudi prince Anthony Gignac jailed for $8m fraud". BBC News. BBC. BBC. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
^ Mullins, Luke (May 19, 2008). "How Frank Abagnale Would Swindle You". U.S. News. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
^ Noble, Kenneth B. (17 April 1996). "Doctor's Specialty Turns Out to Be Masquerade". The New York Times.
^ Shafer, Jack (12 March 2002). "Who Is "Robert Klingler"?". Slate.
^ Donelly, Beau; Toscano, Nick (22 April 2015). "The Whole Pantry author Belle Gibson admits she lied about having terminal cancer". smh.com.au. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
^ "CNBC pundit and hedge-fund operator at heart of $4 million Ponzi scheme". NY Daily News. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
^ Hawker, Diane (Nov 7, 2010). "So young, so rich, so many questions". Independent Online. Archived from the original on 2022-07-15. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
^ Mashaba, Sibongile (May 12, 2011). "Bogus billionaire's trail of debts". SowetanLIVE. Archived from the original on 2022-07-26. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
^ Wasserman, Helena (Jul 3, 2021). "SA's 'fake billionaire' is back, now selling shares on special to Somizi's followers". Fin24. Archived from the original on 2021-07-03. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
^ Griesser, Andy (2003-02-07). "Sex Under Duress: Cal. Court Upholds Rape Conviction for Ruse to Obtain Sex". ABA Journal. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
^ Ransom, Jan (May 9, 2019). "Sorokin, Who Swindled N.Y.'s Elite, Is Sentenced to 4 to 12 Years in Prison". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
^ von Lüpke, Marc (1 November 2013). "Doktor Dreist" [Doctor Brazen]. Der Spiegel (in German).
^ Shearer, Lee (14 April 2018). "Brothers in arms?: Civil War reality predates transgender debate". Athens Banner-Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^ Henry Mark Holzer (August 9, 2012). Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service. Madison Press. ISBN 978-0985243784.
^ Rutenberg, Jim (April 29, 2002). "At Fox News, The Colonel Who Wasn't". The New York Times.
^ Ehrenberg, Nicholas (November 11, 2005). "Fake War Stories Exposed". CBS News. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
^ Burkett, B. G. (September 2, 1998). Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History (1st ed.). Verity Pr Inc. ISBN 096670360X.
^ McColl, Alexander (1 August 1996). "Full Mental Jacket". Soldier of Fortune. Vol. 21, no. 8. pp. 37–39. ISSN 0145-6784. LCCN 76647216. OCLC 2778757 – via Internet Archive.
^ John, Marshall (2004-12-07). "Ellis doesn't want to revisit his own past". Seattle Post Intelligencer. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
^ Ellis, Joseph (2001-08-17). "Further Statement of Joseph J. Ellis". mountholyoke.edu. Archived from the original on 2006-07-15. Retrieved 2006-08-04.
^ "Historian 'posed as a war hero'". BBC News. 3 July 2009.
^ Brian Ross and Vic Walter (September 21, 2007). "Anti-War YouTube 'Vet' Admits He Is Faker". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
^ Oshinsky, David M. (March 17, 2020). "Fact from Fiction: Joseph McCarthy the Tail Gunner". HistoryNet.com. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
^ Seenan, Gerard (11 April 2006). "Captain Sir Alan KBE - call-centre worker". the Guardian.
^ "Micah Wright Comes Clean, Ranger Story a Hoax". CBR. 2 May 2004.
^ Laura Plitt, producer, "Frederic Bourdin – the man who changed his identity 500 times," BBC News, 19 October 2012.
^ Hailey Branson-Potts (August 15, 2013). "Rockefeller impostor gets 27 years in prison; maintains innocence". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
^ "'Japan's Beethoven' Samuragochi paid hearing composer to write music". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
^ NPR Staff (March 26, 2012). "The Amazing, Untrue Story Of A Sept. 11 Survivor". NPR.org.
^ 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.
^ "'MI5' conman wins sentence appeal". BBC. 25 April 2007.
^ "Spanish Nazi camp 'survivor' lied". A leading representative of Holocaust survivors in Spain has admitted to being "an impostor". BBC. 12 May 2005.
^ Kovaleski, Serge F. (September 16, 2015). "Steve Rannazzisi, Comedian Who Told of 9/11 Escape, Admits He Lied". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
^ Day, Elizabeth (5 September 2009). "I love you Phillip Morris: a conman's story". the Guardian.
^ Ashford, Grace; Gold, Michael (December 19, 2022). "Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
^ Gold, Michael; Ashford, Grace (December 26, 2022). "George Santos Admits to Lying About College and Work History". The New York Times. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
^ Lapppin, Elana (6 June 1999). "The Boy Who had Two Lives". The Independent.
^ Bilefsky, Dan; Porter, Catherine; Austen, Ian (April 20, 2020). "Police Seek Motive for Canada Killing Spree by Denture Fitter". The New York Times. Retrieved July 13, 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Impostors.

The Fake Warrior Project, POW Network

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