Animpersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another.[1] There are many reasons for impersonating someone:
Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that person for an audience. Such historical interpretation may be a scripted dramatic performance likeMark Twain Tonight! or an unscripted interaction while staying in character.[2]
Crime: As part of acriminal act such asidentity theft. This is usually where the criminal is trying to assume the identity of another, in order to commitfraud, such as accessing confidential information, or to gain property not belonging to them. Also known associal engineering andimpostors.
Decoys, used as a form of protection for political and military figures. This involves an impersonator who is employed (or forced) to perform during public appearances, to mislead observers.
Sowing discord, causing people to fight, or dislike each other for social, business or political gain.
Celebrity impersonators are impostors who look similar tocelebrities and dress in such a way as to imitate them. Impersonators are known as sound-alikes, look-alikes, impressionists, imitators, tribute artists, and wannabees. The interest may have originated with the need or desire to see a celebrity who has died.[citation needed] One of the most prominent examples of this phenomenon is the case ofElvis Presley.Edward Moss has appeared in movies and sitcoms, impersonatingMichael Jackson.[3][4]Tom Jones has attracted his share ofimpersonators from different places around the world. From the United States, to South East Asia, to the UK, there are performers who either sound like him or imitate his act.[5][6][7][8]
In England and Wales, thePoor Law Amendment Act 1851, section 3, made it an offence to impersonate a "person entitled to vote" at an election. In the case of Whiteley v Chappell (1868), theliteral rule ofstatutory interpretation was employed to find that a dead person was not a "person entitled to vote" and consequently a person accused of this offence wasacquitted.[9]
Although in aColorado case, an immigrant was charged with "criminal impersonation" for using another person'sSocial Security number when signing up for a job,[citation needed] some courts have ruled that supplying this wrong information may not be criminal.[10] The ruling hinges on whether there was harm to the other person.[citation needed]
Audio deepfakes have been used as part ofsocial engineering scams, fooling people into thinking they are receiving instructions from a trusted individual.[11] In 2019, a U.K.-based energy firm's CEO was scammed over the phone when he was ordered to transfer €220,000 into a Hungarian bank account by an individual who used audio deepfake technology to impersonate the voice of the firm's parent company's chief executive.[12]
As of 2023, the combination advances in deepfake technology, which could clone an individual's voice from a recording of a few seconds to a minute, and newtext generation tools, enabled automated impersonation scams, targeting victims using a convincing digital clone of a friend or relative.[13]
^"Town of the Living Dead". LA Review of Books. 15 October 2013. Retrieved17 December 2023.He is a Ralph Waldo Emerson reenactor. This man gets paid to dress like, act like, and speak like Ralph Waldo Emerson. He's 63 years old and wears a black frock coat...'I use the term 'historic interpreter' or 'living historian.' But when people say 'impersonator,' that doesn't bother me.'
