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Parents often tell their children they can be whoever or whatever they want to be. It’s obviously a motivational hack, and many kids grow up to realize there are some limits. But then there are those who take things to the next level as adults. Walking tall with confidence into any room or situation, regardless of whether they belong or not. Pulling off the ultimate imposter acts to go undetected. Why be yourself when you can be someone else? Right?
There's a popular online community that showcases people engaged in trickery to act like they belong. Aptly named Act Like You Belong, the subreddit has more than 658,000 members. And as it states, "There is no need for clearance when you have confidence!" Bored Panda has put together a somewhat intriguing but hilarious list of times people could have won an Oscar for their attempts to fake it 'til they make it. From a fan taking to the field in full kit, pretending to be a Manchester United player to someone trying to illegally cross the U.S. border disguised as a car seat, these people prove that you really can be whoever you want to be. If only for a few minutes.
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#3
Dedicated “Employee”
The Big Bad 18 hours ago
I wonder if he helped people in between. I always try to when someone mistakes me for an employee somewhere.
A man who was declared dead in 2022 is currently on trial in South Africa. Yes. You read that right. Thabo Bester was believed to have died in a fire at a prison in the country. He’d been serving a life sentence for some serious crimes he’d committed more than a decade ago.
At the time of the fire, he was being kept in an isolation cell. When authorities found his body, they came to the conclusion that the prisoner had deliberately started the fire because he could no longer face his fate behind bars.
#4
Guerrilla Street Safety
The body was taken to the mortuary and was later identified and collected by a woman claiming to be Bester’s wife. The hardened prisoner was laid to rest. Or so most people thought.
But local media wouldn’t leave it there. They wanted to know how a prisoner serving time in a maximum security jail had managed to start a fire in a cell when he was alone. What transpired would shock the nation and make headlines around the world.
#7
It Would Probably Work Too
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 1 day ago
Imagine if the man in the t-shirt is actually *not* a cop, but dressed that way to fool cops...
#8
Panda Caretakers In China
#9
An identity thief stole the identity of a surgeon and while aboard a navy destroyer was tasked with performing several life saving surgeries. He proceeded to memorize a medical textbook just before hand and all the patients survived.
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 1 day ago (edited)
His story is amazing. Ferdinand Waldo Demara. He pretended to be a priest and a monk, and faked his own su¡cide to get out of it. He then impersonated a correctional officer and instituted an exercise program for immates so successful that his boss went on record he would rehire him had Demara re-applied for the position with his real name, and later wrote a pamphlet on childcare that became quite popular while pretending to be a professor at a university. His own brillliance was his downfall, though: someone suggested nominating him for a medal and in the ensuing investigation a journalist found his real identity. When questioned about his motives, he replied "Rascality. Simply rascality..."
It later emerged that the autopsy showed the victim had died from blunt force trauma to the head. Not because of a fire. “His body smelled of accelerant, possibly paraffin, and his lungs were clear with no sign of smoke inhalation,” reported the BBC.
“The body’s height at the time of the autopsy was 1.45m,” reported GroundUp. “But in a police mugshot, Bester stood taller, at just over 1.7m.” Something, or many things were not adding up.
In a bizarre twist, the police collected the body from Bester’s “wife” and confiscated it for further investigation. A woman claiming to be Bester’s biological mother then tried to claim the corpse but her DNA did not match the body’s.
#10
Atta, Boy!
#11
Matt Miller Variant
ThatAussieIdiot(He/Him/Aussie) 11 hours ago
How lucky is this guy's band!? Getting the wrong guy, but the wrong guy had the right skills!
#12
Slpt: Pretend Everyday Is Your First Day
Authorities by now suspected that the dead body did not belong to Bester and had been placed in the cell before the fire broke out. In the months that followed, the public would hear that the body found in the cell belonged to someone named Katlego Bereng Mpholo. The 30-year-old had gone missing in April 2022.
According to the BBC, Mpholo’s father says police told him that his son had collapsed and had died in hospital, before being taken to a mortuary. The dad searched mortuaries across the city but never managed to find his son.
#13
Flashback To When My Friends And I (Bottom 3) Snuck Into A Prom And Ended Up Making It Into The Yearbook Even Though None Of Us Ever Went To That School
#15
One Day…. One Day He’s Hoping I Won’t Notice…
In an elaborate escape mission, and something out of a Netflix series, someone had managed to take Mpholo’s body, and plant it in the maximum security prison. Thabo Bester casually left jail, that night dressed in a prison guard's uniform. The criminal remained undetected for a year, living it up with his partner in a mansion in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg.
As the BBC reported, “he hid there in plain sight with his celebrity girlfriend, 35-year-old doctor, Nandipha Magudumana. She specialised in medically treating things such as skin conditions to improve the way that people look. She had worked for Bester in 2006 when he was an events manager and then started visiting him in jail in 2017.”
#16
After 1.4 Billions Crayons, Turns Out Top Maker Is Colorblind
#17
Back When Aol Was A Thing
#18
Mexican Man Tries To Illegally Enter The Us By Disguising Himself As A Car Seat
In the year that followed the escape, photos started going viral on social media of a man who resembled Bester nonchalantly paying for his groceries at a supermarket. Those who knew the criminal were convinced it was him. An incredible case of acting like you belong.
#19
A True Wikipedia Scholar
#20
The King Of Acting Like You Belong
#21
King Of The Jungle
Sarah Bailey 18 hours ago
I would totally go to a zoo of dogs dressed in zoo animal costumes.... who's going to do it? I wanna go!
Fast forward to April 2023 and Bester is arrested in Tanzania, alongside his partner. They’d fled South Africa and were found with several fake passports with fake identities. The couple had reportedly driven from South Africa to the Zimbabwean border, then made their way north to Zambia before arriving in Tanzania.
A massive sting operation resulted in the pair finally being caught and flown back to South Africa under heavy police guard, and with hoards of media capturing their every move.
#22
Brought My Vf-2 Tomcat Helmet To The Movies. I Let Random People Take Pictures With Me. I Saluted Everyone Entering The Cinema With "Mam", "Sir". They Thought I'm Part Of The Promo Crew
OzzyTheMano (They/Them) 16 hours ago
sometime's people think I look like a store mascot when I go fursuiting in public ':D
#23
Look Busy And Leave
#24
Act Like A Florida Man
#25
Walz: I Am Not Leaving This Grocery Store Without A Free Turkey
#26
When Acting Like You Belong Pays Off
#27
The Great Peanut Butter Bandits
#28
I’ve Always Wanted To See Inside A News Room. So I Wore Black. Walked In, Sat Down, And Watched
#29
As I Promised! Here Is The Plaque Finally Up, In A Spot Hundreds Of University Students Pass Daily
#30
Someone Pretended To Be Tom Cruise In A Small Chicken Shop In North Eastern Thailand And Is Remembered There Forever
#31
This Is FBI Agent Robert Hanssen
He was tasked to find a mole within the FBI after the FBI's moles in the KGB were caught. Robert Hanssen was the mole and had been working with the KGB since 1979.
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 1 day ago
He died in 2023 serving a life-sentence at the Florence supermax prison. I don't think he cheated the system at all...
#32
When The Doctors Came To Check, Shi Pei Pu Would Tuck His Genitals Inside His Body To Fool Them
#33
Browns Fan Works Way Through Ranks Of Ravens Fb Group, Becomes Admin, And Hacks The Group
#34
Man Convinces Convenience Store Clerk He's There To Take Over
#35
Sometimes You Need A Little Make-Up To Blend In
Luis Hernandez Dauajare 1 day ago (edited)
Why do I suspect it is not very bright to mess with priceless antique artifacts in China?
#36
Sometimes All It Takes To Be An Expert On A Language Is To Be An Intp Brony
#37
What A Madlad
#38
Undercover Walmart
#39
He Didn’t Even Have To Try
#40
Oscar For This One!
Kabuki Kitsune 10 hours ago
Okay, this one is more than a little misleading. So, let me help you here: It's a kit car. They were all the rage at one time or another, producing things that looked like Porches, or other classic cars. Those cars typically were little more than converted VW beetles or frames, with fiberglass to make the body and such. What this fellow did was take a Mercury Cougar, and rebuild it using manufactured parts (the kit part of it) to look like the Bugatti. He actually put about 90,000 dollars into the replica car to pull off the stunt; and then listed the vehicle on craigslist some time after he completed it. It was listed for 125,000 dollars... and yes, he actually managed to sell it. Much of the interior was original Bugatti parts, as was a good part of the exterior as well.
Note: this post originally had 70images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
Poll Question
How do you feel about the concept 'fake it 'til you make it'?
It's a useful strategy
It's risky but exciting
It's unethical
It's amusing to watch
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What do you think ?
Kay C 1 day ago
Reminds me a South African guy that pulled off a legendary scam by posing as a KFC executive for two years just to get free food. He’d show up in a suit, flash a fake ID, and claim he was there for ‘quality control.’ Even had a chauffeur to make it look legit. Staff treated him like royalty while he feasted for free—until he finally got caught. Absolute madman
Asdf 9 hours ago
Well right now we have a South African guy pretending to be president, and pretending he isn't an actual lizard person
Load More Replies...
Emma S 1 day ago
Remember the fake sign language interpreter at a Nelson Mandela memorial? If not watch it on YouTube.
Sky Render 17 hours ago
I had an accidental case of this at work about two years ago. I misheard a coworker tell me I needed to help out on line 30 when we had both been assigned to line 31. I had no reason to doubt her, so I went over to line 30 and ran it alone. It took the supervisors almost 3 hours to realize I was missing, and they only found me when I went on break. Funny thing is, I ran line 30 perfectly during that time, and it's normally supposed to have at least two people doing that...
Kay C 1 day ago
Reminds me a South African guy that pulled off a legendary scam by posing as a KFC executive for two years just to get free food. He’d show up in a suit, flash a fake ID, and claim he was there for ‘quality control.’ Even had a chauffeur to make it look legit. Staff treated him like royalty while he feasted for free—until he finally got caught. Absolute madman
Asdf 9 hours ago
Well right now we have a South African guy pretending to be president, and pretending he isn't an actual lizard person
Load More Replies... Emma S 1 day ago
Remember the fake sign language interpreter at a Nelson Mandela memorial? If not watch it on YouTube.
Sky Render 17 hours ago
I had an accidental case of this at work about two years ago. I misheard a coworker tell me I needed to help out on line 30 when we had both been assigned to line 31. I had no reason to doubt her, so I went over to line 30 and ran it alone. It took the supervisors almost 3 hours to realize I was missing, and they only found me when I went on break. Funny thing is, I ran line 30 perfectly during that time, and it's normally supposed to have at least two people doing that...
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