Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
40 Times People Cheated The System By Acting Like They Belong
We all want to find our identity. To capitalize on it. For some, it can take a lifetime. For others, mere seconds. Even if it doesn't belong to them.
There is a subreddit called r/ActLikeYouBelong and it has 520K members. Why so many, you ask? It shares stories, pictures, and videos of people pretending to be someone they're not!
From a man posing as a delivery driver and stealing beer to a girl faking her way into a music festival as a photographer, you'll be surprised how many of these evil geniuses get away with it, too.
This post may include affiliate links.
When it comes to inventing or borrowing an identity, I usually think of Frank Abagnale, the guy whose life inspired Catch Me If You Can. But for this article, I decided to dig a little deeper. And I'm glad I did. There have been plenty of fraudsters who have pulled off remarkable stunts and lived to tell the tale.
Take Perkin Warbeck for example. Chances are, you've never even heard of him. But Warbeck was the perpetrator of one of the most audacious cases of identity theft in history.
RELATED:
#2
One Of The Largest Actlikeyoubelong Operations In History
#3
Women Are Not Allowed To Attend Soccer Matches In Iran. 5 Girls Sneak In Azadi Stadium In Disguise To Celebrate Persepolis Championship In Iran's Persian Gulf Pro League
Nowadays, enterprises face real challenges, as sophisticated con men utilize stolen identities to access secure accounts or defraud victims of their finances. But Warbeck was way more ambitious. He was aiming at the ultimate target — the British throne.
In the late 15th century, supporters of the deposed Richard III of York persuaded a naive young Warbeck to assume a new identity. The Yorkist loyalists transformed him to become Richard, Duke of York, and true heir apparent to the throne. Beneath this guise, Warbeck began gathering forces to take the throne from the Tudor King Henry VII.
#4
Mom Of The Year Or... Dad Of The Year ?
#5
This Lady Was In A Search Party Looking For... Herself!
The ruse was eventually doomed and Warbeck ended up in captivity, but not before his deceit had raised an army of 6,000 men and gathered the support of many European royals of the era.
Some see Warbeck as a stooge of more nefarious minds, however, his story proves that given the right circumstances, identity fraud can get you a long way.
As for Perkin Warbeck, he was hanged in 1499 after a failed attempt to escape.
#6
I Give Y'all Permission Too
#7
If It Was A Popeyes Then I Would Too
Martin Guerre is also worthy of a mention. He was born a French peasant, married Bertrande, the daughter of a well-to-do family, and after eight years together they had a child. At some point during their marriage, Martin was accused of stealing grain from his father and fled town and his family in 1548, never to be seen again.
That is, until a man named Arnaud du Tilh walked into town and up to Bertrande, claiming to be her husband and father of their child.
Bertrande was super happy and convinced that her husband had returned. Arnaud had such a striking resemblance to the real Martin Guerre; even his four sisters believed he was truly home.
#8
Don't Know If This Counts, But I Found This Interesting
#9
Daron Malakian (Guitarist Of System Of A Down) Pretending To Be A Random Fan And Telling A Magazine How Great The Band Is (1999)
“Martin Guerre”, aka Arnaud du Tilh, lived three years with Bertrande and her son, even having a child together. The townspeople, however, remained suspicious. Eventually, they had raised so much fuss, there was a trial against the imposter after “Martin Guerre” tried to claim an inheritance from his newly deceased father.
The sentence was passed down, but Arnaud du Tilh appealed the verdict and almost convinced the court of his innocence. However, at the very last moment, the real Martin Guerre emerged with a wooden leg and forgotten knowledge of the past.
In the end, Bertrande and Martin’s four sisters attested that it was truly him, and Arnaud du Tilh was sentenced to death by hanging for adultery and fraud in 1560.
The middle ages were wild!
#10
Painted This Mural Illegally During Daytime By Acting Like I Belonged
I put a plastic cover over the ground, installed a ladder and put on painting overalls. The mural is on a trail connecting two neighbourhoods so there were frequent passerby, people walking dogs, etc.. I basically ignored them and kept working calmly. Only one dude tried to call my bluff. He shouted something like ‘hey stop, what are you doing?’, but i didn’t look up and only turned around a few seconds later to pick up a different color, so he assumed i was legit.
#11
Getting Backstage With Wikipedia
#12
The Ol Miss Frizzle Disguise
#13
My Dad Disguising Himself To Get In The Yearbook Twice (1980s)
#14
The Day I Pretended To Be Tmz To Get This Photo Of Tom Hiddleston.
#15
Dad Couldn’t Get A Reservation At A Restaurant, Calls Back Pretending To Be Prime Minister Of Morocco. Gets Best Seat In The House And Signs A Plate For The Chef
#16
Repost? Maybe. Jaw Dropping? Definitely
#17
Snuck Into A Festival Using Bottles Of Water And A Hi Vis Vest
#18
Mad Lad Eats For Free
Janelle Collard 5 years ago (edited)
"Starving college students" is an actual thing (esp. in America.)
#19
Comedian Gallagher Saw Me Signing To My Deaf Son In Front Of The Stage At His Show In Alaska And Assumed I Was An Interpreter For Him. I Signed The Whole Show On Stage (Me Far Left)
#20
A Powerful Weapon In Your Arsenal
Aisling Raye 5 years ago
Don't do this --> find local event staffing company that does all the big events in your area. Find out what they wear (hint it's usually black pants and some color polo.) Dress the same for free access to concerts, football games etc. Since the venue is hiring a larg number of people through a staffing agency they won't know who you are or if you belong or not. Most employees don't even know the other employees. I never did this, never knew other college kids that did this. It has definitely never worked.
#21
Sigma Males Dont Pay For Drugs
#22
Back When Aol Was A Thing
#23
Looking Out For Real Brothers
#24
Youtube Streamer Pretends To Play Ufc So He Could Stream The Entire Ppv Without Being Copyrighted
#25
This Kid From My School Is An Absolute Legend. Just Read The Caption Below The Picture.
#26
Got A Job!
#27
Spotted This One Out In The Wild
#28
That Will Be 9.95$ With Senior Discount
#29
Can Substitute Uniform For Clipboard
#30
I Was Cleaning The Basement And Found This. My Daughter And Her Boyfriend Made These And Walked Right Into A Concert. No Questions Asked.
#31
Man Stole $122m From Facebook And Google By Sending Them Random Bills, Which The Companies Dutifully Paid
beastmachine. 5 years ago
That reminds of when once Google forgot to pay for it's website hosting and someone just bought the domain name for few bucks, they then paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the guy who later donated all that money
#32
Nothing To See Here Just A Very Realistic Mannequin
Janelle Collard 5 years ago
I know! It took me a minute to figure it out.
Load More Replies...
Zahara Smith 5 years ago
What system is he cheating here? Did I lose track of what list I’m reading?
#33
Man Brings Life Jacket, Nerf Guns, And Vacuum To A 2nd Amendment Protest
#35
It's Cold Outside And I Was Tired Of Standing. Found A Pen And Paper And Now I'm With Stats And Press
#36
Snuck Into Vip Section Of A Concert. We Noticed The Special Wristbands Looked Awfully Simaler To Our Water Bottle Wrappers
#37
The Vest Is Really Important
#38
A Few Years Ago I Impersonated A Journalist To Get Into Bernie Sanders' Press Conference For The Release Of His Book, Got On TV, And Then Told Him Afterwards What I Did
#39
The Story Of Emmanuel Nwude And The Imaginary Airport Isn’t As Simple As Those Emails You Get From Time To Time Asking For Your Bank Details, But The Essential Elements – Nigeria And Scamming Are Present And Correct
#40
A Scientist That Changed Many Lives And Did What He Loved Until His Death.
#41
Auburn Player Joins Georgia's Huddle
#42
As Badass As It Gets. A Lone Black Man Attends A Klan Rally And Cross Burning In Jackson, Mississippi 1950.
#43
My Dad Snuck Onto Stage After Tailgating All Day Without A Ticket For The Singing Of ‘We Are The World’ At Live Aid Philadelphia In 1985 (In The Red Collared Golf Shirt)
#44
Zimbabwe Army Took Over The State TV Station And Told People There's No Indication That A Military Coup Is Happening
#46
Sometimes You Need A Little Make-Up To Blend In
#47
Smoking
Uncommon Boston 5 years ago
Business was casually discussed in the smoking area. Decisions were made on the projects I was working on. They took a break, i went with them.
#48
If Anyone Asks If You're A Celebrity, Say Yes And Play Along.
#49
Trying To Convince My Dad To Sneak Into A Cubs Game As Joe Maddon
#51
I Wish I Had That Confidence But Also People Like That Intimidate Me
Monty Is Fiennes 5 years ago
Nothing to gain for the good here... this guy is just a thief, from a family of thieves....
#52
Pretend To Be A Cop? Get Arrest By An Off Duty One.
#53
If You Wear A High Vis Vest (The Orange Ones) People Ignore You And You Can Make Fake Ads And Put Em In Phonebooths... If You Have The Keys
#54
I Might Try This Myself
KMill 5 years ago
I support this tactic - as a secretary I was always in meetings to take minutes and I absolutely hated it! Finally someone else took that over and I didn’t have to anymore. It was bliss until I became last-to-know everything. Being in every meeting you can be is a good thing. It keeps you knowledgeable and makes you visible and relevant to those who have the power to promote or dismiss you.
#55
Fly Casually...
#56
Just Doing Some Gardening
#57
Humans Imitating Pandas So Cubs Have No "Real" Interactions With Humans
#58
Ed Sheeran Impersonator Gets Into Ksi vs. Logan Paul Fight + Exclusive Nightclub
#59
My Friend And I Pushing Stock Around Walmart In Yellow Vests. We Don’t Work At Walmart.
#60
There's Brazen And Then There's This
#61
Acted Like I Had A First Class Train Ticket
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
In the Netherlands while violently shaking the sleeping guy: " Hey, wake up and show me your ticket."
#62
1st Date, We Pretended To Be Homebuyers And Visited Open Houses In The Area
#63
I’m 15 And I Snuck Into An Invite Only Chance The Rapper(My Favorite Artist Ever) Event As A “Photographer.” I Just Walked In With My Camera With No Questions Asked. Shook His Hand And Exchanged Hellos.
#64
The Lady Wearing Black Was Being Followed By A Weirdo , She Noticed A Twitch/Youtube Streamer And Pretended To Be His Friend , His Reaction Is Quick
#65
I Am An Amateur Photographer. I Sneaked With The Press Photographers On My City Fashion Week Event.
#66
Got Into A Party With Pieces Of Paper Coated In Highlighter Fluid And Drawn Ridges.
Nicola Roberts 5 years ago
For less effort you can buy them off ebay. My daughter had joint 13th birthday party at a large events building. We thought the best way to keep track of the guests was to give them ID bracelets. Not only did it give the bouncers (Mums) a fighting chance of only allowing the invited teenagers into the party, it also meant it was easy to spot the ones that were up to no good outside in dimly lit corners! Probably one of the best £5 I ever spent.
#67
The Guy Wearing A Fake Uniform And Trying To Cross The Border, Caught By Border Control.
#68
"Police Say This Isn't The First Time"
#69
I Think The Photo Says It All
#70
I Go To The Local Hospital Cafeteria For Lunch Every So Often. I Dress In Khaki Pants And A Button-Down Shirt While Looking Generally Happy To Be There. Gets Me A 30% Employee Discount Everytime.
#71
Unauthorized Man Sneaks On Stage Of The 2018 Olympic Ceremonies
#72
He Tried His Hardest
#73
Got Off The Bus, Walked Through The Foyer, Lay Down On One Of These Nice Shaded Bench Things And Now Im Chilling. Waiters Keep On Walking By But They Don't Seem To Care. Aloha Baby!
#74
Me With An Inside-Out Vest Covered In Painter’s Tape, My Mom’s Toolbag, A Clipboard With Miscellaneous Marine Documents And Some Charts, And A Hardhat On - Nearly Making It Into A Marine Scrapyard Completely Unnoticed
#75
60 Different People Carrying Sports Bags And Drinks To A Gym, But Slap On A High Vis And Boom, You're A Decorator.
#76
A Few Years Back I Was At A Festival And I Saw A Guy From This Band I Really Liked So I Went Up And Said Hello. While We Were Having A Chat These People Came Up And Said "Omg We Love You Guys, Can We Get A Photo? Anyways, Thats How I Was Mistaken As A Member Of Courtney Barnett's Band (Me On Right)
#77
A 16-Year-Old Detained During Protests In Russia For Dressing Up As A Policeman And Trying To Join A Column Of Security Forces
Ryan Deschanel 5 years ago
When you love your government so much that you attend a demonstration only to sabotage it.
#78
Me In The F1 Press Centre
M O'Connell 5 years ago
Big expensive white Canon lens... You may not have credentials but you probably could if you wanted to get them.
#79
Avoided Paying Bar Cover The Past 2 Years By Drawing The Stamps With A Felt Tip Pen And Smudging It Barely
#80
How To Attend E3 For Free Without Really Trying.
A few days before E3 we did some research on what the food/drink set up would be like. And decided that going in dressed as bartenders/general help would be the best route. We had most of the clothes, and a friend of mine loaned us the aprons.
Once we were inside we found out what the name of the catering service, and used that information to get a lady at a information booth to walk us through security. Unsurprisingly enough, a lady from a conference room asked to place an order with us, we took it and went to a kitchen nearby and gave the order to the kitchen manager. She questioned us a bit on who we were, but we didn't break. Gave her our middle names in place of our first names (didn't want to lie too much, I know weird) and went on our way. We tried to get into the Sony/Nintendo room, but was denied entry due to lack of conference badges, and almost got kicked out.
We almost gave up, but decided to go back the way we initially entered. Once we were back on the main floor, we figured why not try to get into the main conference room with Microsoft, Activision, Ubisoft, etc. If we couldn't, we still had a great time. So we monitored the door and saw that out every five people entering the main room, only one person's badge was getting scanned. So we casually got into a crowd of people and walked in. It was an amazing feeling being surrounded by the sets for games like Marvel vs. Capcom to Shadow of War. But most importantly we got to see the Destiny 2 set up and watch a bunch of gameplay. The best thing about all of this was getting to go on a fun/risky trip with one of my best friends and it only cost us a parking fee of $4 to attend E3 for free.
#82
Just Found This Subreddit I Have Been Seeing Movies For Free For About A Year Now After Finding This In The Bin Of 3D Glasses At The Theatre
#83
Real Life Catch Me If You Can
Wombatred26 4 years ago (edited)
The funny thing is, Catch Me If You Can is based on a true story!!
#84
I Got Into A Robotics Tournament Using This
#85
My Friend And I Got Into A Bunch Of Rides At A Carnival With These “Tickets”
#86
1 Year Ago Today, I Made My Way Into A Press Conference Regarding A Massive Local Fire. A Little Confidence And A Decent Looking Camera Go A Long Way.
#87
Saw This Gem On The Road Today And Wanted To Share (Santa Fe, Texas).
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Demi Zwaan 5 years ago
Yeah, confidence, privilege and a lack of morals will get you far in life. Unfortunately.
Jace 5 years ago
I lost interest halfway through the list because it’s basically glorifying cheating at society. Yeah, some of them are funny, a few are entirely justified, many are harmless, and the stories are interesting, but I grew more and more irritated with the overall concept as I kept reading. I was cheated out of a career by sociopathic bosses who played the game of “act confident and you’ll win”, and that even involved getting reverse-help from my goddamned Union (who really just helped HR). I literally fought against unethical behavior and lost because management sides with management, my union was corrupt, and the bad guys had confidence, self-entitlement, and arrogance. I ended up with PTSD because of sociopaths being rewarded by our culture instead of being filtered out of society.
Joselito El Zapatero 5 years ago
I once was refused at a club in Addis Ababa for wearing sneakers. I told the bouncer I was the son of the American ambassador and they let me in.
Tassenküchlein168 5 years ago (edited)
To me, some of the subjects don’t belong here and all others are completely asshole-ish.
Treessimontrees 5 years ago
My only ever successful addition to this would be I realised at university when photocopying chapters of books (which was a somewhat sizeable cost at the time) - you could insert your card with credits on it - photocopy a page but as it was doing the copying bit pull out the card - and it wouldn't take money off your card. Hardly the crime of the century but probably saved me a few hundred over 4 years.
Lee Wehr Jr 5 years ago
Heard a story years ago about some older gent posed as a parking lot attendant at an amusement park or a state park, I don't remember. Word was he was a nice fellow, worked every day with a smile, even stuck it out in inclement weather; people said he was the kindest out there. Then one day he didn't show up and after several days or so, people started asking what happened to the nice old parking attendant. What's crazy is he "worked" there for 10 years or something crazy like that and the park determined this guy made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars at $20 a car.
Carol Emory 5 years ago
It was at Bristol zoo in England. Snopes said it was a fake story, Said it went on for 25 years and that the only reason he was found out was because the zoo called the counsel and asked for a replacement parking attendant only to find out the counsel never hired one in the first place.
Load More Replies... Octavia Hansen 5 years ago
My dad used to leave his name as Dr. ______ when making a reservation. He was usually seated and served quickly.
Carol Emory 5 years ago
I can't remember the names, but I read where, during the increase in IRA activity in Ireland, authorities rounded up a group of rioters and protestors. They were separated into two groups, those who were facing serious charges and those that were considered harmless and were to be released. The leader of the group was on the side of the room with those due to go to prison. When the authorities turned their backs on the two groups, the IRA leader crossed the room and stood with those who were to be released. None of the guards noticed and he walked right out of the room.
Draga Millani 5 years ago
lighten up y'all- some of these are just fun to make memes out of. They were all caught.
Dodo 5 years ago
Perkin Warbeck *was* Richard. There were pretenders before him, including Lambert Simnel who pretended to be the actual former King (Edward V, Richard's older brother) and when he was caught he was given a job at the Palace, lived there the rest of his life. And yet "Perkin Warbeck" was beaten beyond recognition and hanged. Why do that unless he's the real deal?
Mark Howell 5 years ago
When the Intu Trafford Centre was nearing completion, I had a few friends working there, who said I should see inside. Not being a busy shopping mall type person, I turned up the Friday before opening with boots on, hard hat on, Hi-viz and a clip board. Walked round for an hour looking at the shiny new mall, not once did anyone question who I was. Been since hated it busy as f*** and a pain to park.
Colin Matthews 5 years ago
OK So in a similar vein... When I was younger I looked a LOT like the NZ Cricket player Scott Styris. I was walking through town one day when the All Black Captain and legend Richie McCaw happened past me, he looked over nodded at me and said "Scotty" I nodded back to him and said "Richie" and kept going. Hahahaha brilliant
Eagle Girl 5 years ago
Anyone else get excited when you reach the end and discover there's more :D :D
deanna woods 5 years ago
When I was a kid, my mom said that my twelve year old sister was eleven so that she could get the kids buffet at a restaurant. When I was a little older, I went to my mom's college with her while she took a class and pretended to be a student to into the student only computer lab. I think I was really about fifteen or so. The one my family always did was using my mom's purse to sneak snacks into the movie theater.
Sommer 5 years ago
Its so easy to hide snacks and stuff. I sneak mine in under my pads, no one ever checks underneath them.
Load More Replies...
Demi Zwaan 5 years ago
Yeah, confidence, privilege and a lack of morals will get you far in life. Unfortunately.
Jace 5 years ago
I lost interest halfway through the list because it’s basically glorifying cheating at society. Yeah, some of them are funny, a few are entirely justified, many are harmless, and the stories are interesting, but I grew more and more irritated with the overall concept as I kept reading. I was cheated out of a career by sociopathic bosses who played the game of “act confident and you’ll win”, and that even involved getting reverse-help from my goddamned Union (who really just helped HR). I literally fought against unethical behavior and lost because management sides with management, my union was corrupt, and the bad guys had confidence, self-entitlement, and arrogance. I ended up with PTSD because of sociopaths being rewarded by our culture instead of being filtered out of society.
Joselito El Zapatero 5 years ago
I once was refused at a club in Addis Ababa for wearing sneakers. I told the bouncer I was the son of the American ambassador and they let me in.
Tassenküchlein168 5 years ago (edited)
To me, some of the subjects don’t belong here and all others are completely asshole-ish.
Treessimontrees 5 years ago
My only ever successful addition to this would be I realised at university when photocopying chapters of books (which was a somewhat sizeable cost at the time) - you could insert your card with credits on it - photocopy a page but as it was doing the copying bit pull out the card - and it wouldn't take money off your card. Hardly the crime of the century but probably saved me a few hundred over 4 years.
Lee Wehr Jr 5 years ago
Heard a story years ago about some older gent posed as a parking lot attendant at an amusement park or a state park, I don't remember. Word was he was a nice fellow, worked every day with a smile, even stuck it out in inclement weather; people said he was the kindest out there. Then one day he didn't show up and after several days or so, people started asking what happened to the nice old parking attendant. What's crazy is he "worked" there for 10 years or something crazy like that and the park determined this guy made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars at $20 a car.
Carol Emory 5 years ago
It was at Bristol zoo in England. Snopes said it was a fake story, Said it went on for 25 years and that the only reason he was found out was because the zoo called the counsel and asked for a replacement parking attendant only to find out the counsel never hired one in the first place.
Load More Replies... Octavia Hansen 5 years ago
My dad used to leave his name as Dr. ______ when making a reservation. He was usually seated and served quickly.
Carol Emory 5 years ago
I can't remember the names, but I read where, during the increase in IRA activity in Ireland, authorities rounded up a group of rioters and protestors. They were separated into two groups, those who were facing serious charges and those that were considered harmless and were to be released. The leader of the group was on the side of the room with those due to go to prison. When the authorities turned their backs on the two groups, the IRA leader crossed the room and stood with those who were to be released. None of the guards noticed and he walked right out of the room.
Draga Millani 5 years ago
lighten up y'all- some of these are just fun to make memes out of. They were all caught.
Dodo 5 years ago
Perkin Warbeck *was* Richard. There were pretenders before him, including Lambert Simnel who pretended to be the actual former King (Edward V, Richard's older brother) and when he was caught he was given a job at the Palace, lived there the rest of his life. And yet "Perkin Warbeck" was beaten beyond recognition and hanged. Why do that unless he's the real deal?
Mark Howell 5 years ago
When the Intu Trafford Centre was nearing completion, I had a few friends working there, who said I should see inside. Not being a busy shopping mall type person, I turned up the Friday before opening with boots on, hard hat on, Hi-viz and a clip board. Walked round for an hour looking at the shiny new mall, not once did anyone question who I was. Been since hated it busy as f*** and a pain to park.
Colin Matthews 5 years ago
OK So in a similar vein... When I was younger I looked a LOT like the NZ Cricket player Scott Styris. I was walking through town one day when the All Black Captain and legend Richie McCaw happened past me, he looked over nodded at me and said "Scotty" I nodded back to him and said "Richie" and kept going. Hahahaha brilliant
Eagle Girl 5 years ago
Anyone else get excited when you reach the end and discover there's more :D :D
deanna woods 5 years ago
When I was a kid, my mom said that my twelve year old sister was eleven so that she could get the kids buffet at a restaurant. When I was a little older, I went to my mom's college with her while she took a class and pretended to be a student to into the student only computer lab. I think I was really about fifteen or so. The one my family always did was using my mom's purse to sneak snacks into the movie theater.
Sommer 5 years ago
Its so easy to hide snacks and stuff. I sneak mine in under my pads, no one ever checks underneath them.
Load More Replies... 
Related on Bored Panda
