Pretending to Be Nicholas Barclay
In 1997, Frédéric Bourdin claimed the identity of Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who had vanished three years earlier. Despite his French accent and brown eyes, Bourdin convinced Barclay’s family he was their missing son. He explained the differences as the result of abuse, saying traffickers had changed his appearance. For nearly five months, he lived with the family in San Antonio.
Suspicion grew when a private investigator compared photos and saw that Nicholas’s ears did not match Bourdin’s. The FBI confirmed his true identity through DNA testing, and in 1998 he pleaded guilty to passport fraud and perjury. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Returning to France
Released in 2003 and deported to France, Bourdin quickly tried again. In Grenoble, he posed as Léo Balley, a French teenager missing since 1996. DNA tests revealed the truth.
Just a year later, in Spain, he pretended to be Rubén Sánchez Espinoza, claiming his mother had been killed in the Madrid train bombings. Once uncovered, Spanish authorities deported him to France.
A Student in Pau
In June 2005, Bourdin impersonated Francisco Hernandez-Fernandez, a supposed 15-year-old orphan from Spain. He enrolled at Collège Jean Monnet in Pau, France, claiming his parents had died in a car accident. He wore teenage clothes, covered his receding hairline with a cap, and used creams to reduce facial hair.
He managed to attend classes for a month before an administrator recognized him from a television program. Days later, he was arrested. That September, he was sentenced to four months in prison for using the earlier false identity of Léo Balley.
Other Identities
Over the years, Bourdin admitted to using hundreds of false identities, including at least three missing children. Authorities across Europe repeatedly encountered him posing as vulnerable teenagers, often presenting himself as an orphan.
His impersonations typically involved elaborate stories of abuse, loss, or tragedy, designed to explain his appearance and win trust.
The Story in the Spotlight
Bourdin’s impersonations became the subject of major media works. The Chameleon, a 2010 French film based on an authorized biography, dramatized his deception of the Barclay family.
In 2012, the documentary The Imposter premiered at Sundance, focusing entirely on how he passed himself off as Nicholas Barclay in Texas and lived with the boy’s family before being exposed.
Frédéric Bourdin used false identities across countries.
He claimed at least 500.
In 1997 he posed as missing Texan Nicholas Barclay.
In 2005 he enrolled at a junior high in Pau as a 15 year old.
Investigators and DNA tests unmasked him more than once…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/b9qaCDtxNA
— Fascinating True Stories (@FascinatingTrue) September 22, 2025