English
EspañolWhat is impersonation?
Impersonation generally refers to when someone uses a false identity for certain purposes. The impersonator commits acts for personal gain or to deceive or harm another person.
Is impersonation illegal?
Some states have laws against impersonating certain types of professionals or public figures. These might include law enforcement, political officers, or lawyers. Or the law may criminalize impersonation for the purpose of cheating (defrauding) someone. Even if your state’s criminal laws don’t cover the specific type of impersonation being committed against you, the abuser may have committed other crimes in the process. For example, let’s say an abuser impersonates you to withdraw money from your bank account. This may be theft or fraud. Or let’s say an abuser impersonates someone else to harass you. This may be criminal harassment. If there is a restraining order in place, it could be the crime of contempt.
What civil legal options are there to deal with impersonation?
A person may be able to sue for money damages in civil court if a “tort,” which means a civil wrong, was committed against him/her. (See our Suing an Abuser for Money page for more information about civil lawsuits.) There are a few torts that might come into play when dealing with impersonation, which we explain below.
Defamation is a tort that refers to the act of saying or writing false information that damages a person’s reputation in the community. An abuser may have impersonated someone else to spread false and damaging statements about you. Or s/he may have impersonated you to spread false information. If the damaging statement is spoken, it may be considered slander. If it is written it may be considered libel.
For a statement to be considered slander or libel, the judge will generally require proof that:
- It was false;
- It was “published,” which means a third party must have read or heard the statement;
- It caused harm to your reputation, which is often proven by showing one of two things:
- that your business was negatively impacted; or
- that you were subjected to public hatred, disapproval, disgrace, or ridicule.
False light is a tort that deals with being portrayed in a misleading or false way, causing harm to your emotional well-being. To prove false light, the courts generally require proof that:
- The abuser attributed a statement or view to you that you do not hold, thereby placing you in a “false light;”
- The statement or view puts you before the public in a very offensive and untrue manner; and
- S/he acted with “actual malice,” which means s/he knew that the statement was false or didn’t care (“recklessly disregarded”) whether it was false or not.
What are some ways that an abuser might use technology for impersonation?
There are many ways that abusers misuse technology to help them impersonate someone.
Social media
Abusers might misuse social media by using it to:
- create fake social media accounts in your name;
- log into your accounts by having or guessing the password; or
- manipulate technology to make it seem like a communication is coming from you.
Through impersonation, abusers may gather confidential or personal information about you from your friends, family, or an employer who believe they are talking to you. An abuser may create false “evidence” that could cast doubt on allegations you make in court or to the police. For example, abusers can create fake messages from your account to make it look like you are harassing them on social media. Then they can use those “harassing messages” to file a police report or protection order against you.
Generative AI (“Deepfakes”)
An abuser or stalker may use generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools to create fake recordings or videos of you. These are sometimes called deepfakes. The deepfakes may be sexual in nature or they may be meant to harm you in other ways. In 2024, for example, a stalker used these tools to create a deepfake recording of a school principal saying racist and antisemitic comments. This led to outrage and harassment against the principal and the school until it was discovered that the recording was a deepfake.
Email
Abusers may create email accounts not connected to their own name for various reasons to send harassing emails. Abusers may send an email from these “fake” accounts to harass, threaten, or intimidate you. They may try to trick you into opening a message with a virus or stalkerware to let them to spy on your computer. Abusers may also create an email account in your name in order to send emails to others while pretending to be you. They could be trying to embarrass or discredit you, put you at risk of harm, or cause other problems for you.
In many cases, though, the original sender of the email can still be proven. This may require the help of law enforcement.
Spoofing
Spoofing is masking or hiding one’s actual phone number so that a phone number chosen by the user shows up on the recipient’s caller ID. You can find more information about spoofing on our Spoofing page.
Online impersonation
An abuser may use your personal information to pose as you online. S/he may invite others to harass or endanger you. For example, an abuser may create an ad posing as you directing others to contact you for escort or massage services. Or the ad might invite others to come to your home or call you for a specific purpose.
Some abusers could even use impersonation to encourage others to sexually assault you. An abuser could say in the ad or online post that you have a “rape fetish” or “rape fantasy.” The ad or post could then ask for someone to carry out this “fantasy.” The purpose of these types of online posts is so that the person who is sexually assaulting you thinks that if you say “no” or fight back, your resistance is part of “role-playing” in the “rape fantasy.” In these types of cases, the abuser who makes the post can be charged with rape or solicitation to commit rape. This is in addition to whatever rape charges are filed against the person who actually commits the sexual assault.
