check out people's identities
Question the person you have doubts about. Ask him for details about what he's claiming, look for holes in his story.
2- Keep him talking. Whether in the same conversation or another occasion, mention again some minor inconsequential detail that he would have a hard time remembering if he was lying. That's how you'll catch him; his short-term memory will fade on the inconsequential stuff.
3- Connect the dots. If he says he met so-and-so in Rio de Janeiro on this date, find out if so-and-so was there that day. If he drops names or mentions some celebrity he knows that he met at some place for some event not too long ago, verify by double-checking the whereabouts of the celebrity (go to a dentist's office, they have plenty of those crappy mags with the celeb garbage that talk about this stuff). Better yet, use the Interneto, you'd be surprised what kind of stuff you uncover with a few mouse clicks of this computer thing. He says he's Italian? Say a few simple words that any bobbo with a drop of Italian blood would know. He mentions his hometown, do a little digging up on the town; next time bring up how a friend of yours was mesmerized with [insert the name of the fountain in his town], without mentioning the town name. If he is truly from the same place as Berlusconi, he will know it without needing the context of the location. Get in on the fun of bullshi*ting without calling the fool out.
4- Ask people you know in the industry about so-and-so. For example, I'm not plugged into the data storage world (garbage storage is another story) but I have a "guy" that is. When I need to know the rep of a certain someone, I refer to him. Lucky for me, I have about 200 of these types of guys in 200 industries. If someone claims to be a somebody, someone in my group will know him. When you get to the top, the world becomes awfully small (only a thousand people in the world are billionaires, that's one out of every 6 million people. Trust me, this small group knows each other very well).
5- Get some private detective work done on the guy. There are all kinds of "investigators;" some garbage, some dangerously resourceful. You'll find that guys that are on the ball can dig up things you could only dream of. They also save you plenty of time and effort.
6- Do some simple fact-checking. Nowadays, my 6-year-old nephew can pull license plates, social security numbers and favorite ice cream flavors on anybody. A con artist, no matter how planned his story is, cannot fake all his facts and background (though I've seen guys do a fantastic job forging their past into a perfectly woven tale). Call his alma mater about a graduation date, call some people he says he knows and ask him if they know him. Check facts. Check his house -- if he has a big mouth and is a big shot, he will have the digs to fit his ego. If he's living in little more than a ghetto apartment, you caught the cafone.
get the information
Okay, so you're not going to be faced with these James Bond situations every day of your life. In my line of work, you meet plenty of shady characters, and finding out the dirt the guy has behind his fingernails is his modus operandi.
But for an average Joe like yourself, you might not come face to face with a Rockefeller impersonator every day, but you'll come across plenty of people who fiddle with the truth about who they are. When that happens, listen to your gut -- nine times out of 10, it's right. If you're not sure, read steps one through six again. Go get him, 007
get the information
Okay, so you're not going to be faced with these James Bond situations every day of your life. In my line of work, you meet plenty of shady characters, and finding out the dirt the guy has behind his fingernails is his modus operandi.
But for an average Joe like yourself, you might not come face to face with a Rockefeller impersonator every day, but you'll come across plenty of people who fiddle with the truth about who they are. When that happens, listen to your gut -- nine times out of 10, it's right. If you're not sure, read steps one through six again. Go get him, 007
