Editing List of impostors (section)

==Reasons for imposture==
Many impostors try to gain financial or social advantages through [[social engineering (security)|social engineering]] or through means of [[identity theft]], but also often for purposes of [[espionage]] or [[Covert operation|undercover]] [[Law enforcement agency|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 [[Catfishing|catfish]] (e.g. a pedophile pretending to be a youth online<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-25 |title=A man who abused up to 3,500 girls online has been sentenced for crimes including manslaughter |url=https://apnews.com/article/catfishing-attacker-alexander-mccartney-manslaughter-46da6cb9a3846ef0ab87871abca7680f |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>).

Those in [[witness protection]], those fleeing abusers or persecution, and criminals evading arrest may also assume a false identity.

[[Economic migrant]]s may pose as tourists (visitor visas) or as international students (international student visas with a [[Diploma mill|non-accredited university or college]]).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thompson |first=Elizabeth |date=September 24, 2024 |title=Canada needs to do a 'stronger job' of curbing misuse of visitor's visas, Miller says |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-visas-migrants-united-states-1.7331710 |work=CBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Maimann |first=Kevin |date=January 23, 2024 |title=B.C., Ontario vow to crack down on diploma mill schools exploiting international students |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/provinces-cracking-down-on-private-institutions-1.7091194 |work=CBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2023-08-29 |title=Australia takes action on fraud in student visa system |url=https://monitor.icef.com/2023/08/australia-takes-action-on-fraud-in-student-visa-system/ |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment |language=en-GB |quote=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”.}}</ref> As countries, like Canada, decrease their international student quotas, international students may imposture as asylum claimants.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nearly 13K international students applied for asylum this year, data shows - National {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/10771596/nearly-13k-international-students-asylum-2024-data-shows/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}</ref>

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|Munchausen-by-proxy]] (factitious disorder imposed on another).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wallang |first1=Paul |last2=Taylor |first2=Richard |date=May 2012 |title=Psychiatric and psychological aspects of fraud offending |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/psychiatric-and-psychological-aspects-of-fraud-offending/1B192F7E3AE4BAA1ED9BF1BFEA8F7063# |journal=Advances in Psychiatric Treatment |language=en |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=183–192 |doi=10.1192/apt.bp.111.008946 |issn=1355-5146 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freckelton |first=Ian |date=December 2018 |title=Impostors and Impersonators: Fake Health Practitioners and the Law |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30574727/ |journal=Journal of Law and Medicine |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=407–432 |issn=1320-159X |pmid=30574727 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-5 {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/830807378 |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=search.worldcat.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tudor |first=H. G. |date=2023-08-27 |title=Knowing the Narcissist : Lies |url=https://narcsite.com/2023/08/27/knowing-the-narcissist-lies-2/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=HG Tudor - Knowing The Narcissist - The World's No.1 Resource About Narcissism |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Baxter |first=Holly |date=April 28, 2023 |title=Meet the 'race fakers' — and the people tracking them down |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rachel-dolezal-pretendians-list-jacqueline-keeler-b2327583.html |work=Independent |quote=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”.}}</ref>

As part of humorous stunts and media pranks, protesters have also engaged in imposture, often revealing their true identity at a later time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=McIntyre |first=Iain |author-link=Iain McIntyre |date=2019-09-02 |title=Pranks, performances and protestivals: Public Events |url=https://commonslibrary.org/pranks-performances-and-protestivals-public-events/ |access-date=2024-09-19 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Shearer|first1=Lee|title=Brothers in arms?: Civil War reality predates transgender debate|url=http://www.onlineathens.com/news/20180414/brothers-in-arms-civil-war-reality-predates-transgender-debate|website=Athens Banner-Herald|access-date=18 April 2018|date=14 April 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Henry Mark Holzer|title=Fake Warriors: Identifying, Exposing, and Punishing Those Who Falsify Their Military Service|date=August 9, 2012|publisher=Madison Press|isbn=978-0985243784}}</ref>

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 (hoax)|Project Alpha]]; Derren Brown’s [[Messiah (Derren Brown special)|Messiah]], and [[List of Derren Brown shows#Derren Brown: Fear and Faith (2012)|Fear & Faith]]; or Vikram Gandhi’s [[Kumaré]].