Who imagines pretending to be a victim of a terrorist attack? Absolutely no one. And yet, this is what happened after the attacks of November 13.
Lie
It all starts on November 13. The terrorist attacks that have mourned France have taken people by surprise, claiming a very large number of direct and indirect victims. How to identify them? How to verify the veracity of their story? How to exclude or include a priori a victim of terrorism? Benevolently, we can say to ourselves that we are content to recognize as victims of terrorism those people who can prove that they were on the scene and who have suffered physical damage. But things are more complicated.
To begin with, damage is not only physical: it can be moral or financial. During the attacks of November 13, some people were not physically injured, but they are nevertheless scarred for life. Just like the victims of July 14. They have developed post-traumatic stress disorder, which partially or totally prevents them from returning to a normal life. Therefore, the damage is constituted, the prejudice exists.
In the same way, restricting oneself to asking for physical evidence of a presence on the scene is a challenge: some of the attacks took place in the street. Why put this in the preamble? To understand how false victims managed to deceive, for a time, real victims of terrorism.
Facebook and construction of a new identity
Following the attacks, associations and more informal groups have emerged, to allow the victims to speak, to empty their bags, to support each other. These groupings first materialized on Facebook. During the first days, the groups were public, open to everyone. But, to protect the privacy of the victims, the administrators have chosen to restrict access.
Too late: the mythomaniac mentioned in the book was already there. She herself is not a direct victim. Her best friend is, and she says he’s still hospitalized. From then on, she is warm, she helps, she offers moral support and at the time, no one cares about the veracity of her story. Especially since her Facebook profile seems to hold up vaguely, that she shows up at physical events, which are few in number, and we understand why.
If she had stuck to a digital identity, it is very likely that the deception could have lasted a very long time. We all remember this person, who pretended to be an American, parliamentary assistant to a member of the American Congress. This person even managed to deceive journalists from mainstream media. It would be ill-advised to throw stones at the association that believed him, because the fund dedicated to the care of victims – a state agency – also swallowed his story. Who could have imagined that everything was bogus?
Human factor
In computing, it is often said that the error lies in the chair-keyboard interface, a way of saying that it is humans who are the first sources of error. In the story that interests us, this is exactly what happened. The mythomaniac gradually wanted more: a job, money, affection. And if, at first, everyone was delighted with his help, little by little things got tense.
His behavior became erratic, to the point of arousing the suspicions of the leaders of the association. So they investigated, starting with his Facebook profile. Little by little, the lies are discovered, including by the authorities.
We do not reveal the great secrets of the book: it is a journalistic investigation, we know from the start that the person in question is a mythomaniac. What is interesting is the progression, the construction, then the investigation. Are we safe?
Absolutely not.
Vigilance
The case referred to in the book is November 13. But people pretending to be something they’re not happens every day. And unfortunately, the democratization of the web has largely allowed mythomaniacs and scammers of all kinds to prosper. We talk about it relatively little in the category of “cyber risks”. Friendship fraud isn’t “sexy” enough. It’s not catchy enough and then the victims really wanted it. If they had looked for friends in the physical world, it would never have happened, it is thought.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and news items are filled with victims of such scams, where the victims met their scammer in the physical world. Just one example: Christophe Rocancourt. The crooks have a trick up their sleeve: they know how to tell great stories, which seem to hold up. Checking every detail of a story, like a police investigator, takes a lot of energy and, depending on the area, knowledge that not everyone has.
On the web, this type of scammers usually ask for money, even if it is not systematic (for example, the person who pretended to be a parliamentary assistant of a member of the American Congress). The kitty system is perfect for a common pot, to offer a big gift, but how to verify that the person who asks for funds because he is on the edge of the precipice is really on the edge of the precipice? Nobody would ask “show me the documents from the administration certifying that you have exhausted your social rights”.
The mythomaniac of the Bataclan is a good investigative book. Although it focuses on the victims of the November 13 attacks, the subject is broader. It shows how a person, who is not necessarily smarter than others, manages to manipulate others. Don’t expect to discover a major criminal. You will even be quite surprised at the mediocrity of the character. And that is ultimately what is most frightening.
The mythomaniac of the Bataclan is available in print as well as digitally.