The product for any news organization is always something that is interesting for them to print. The problem isn't someone who obviously can easily found to be

The product for any news organization is always something that is interesting for them to print. The problem isn't someone who obviously can easily found to be a fraud. The problem is someone who is not so easily found out because there is no easy paper trail or time is short. You're not going to get an affidavit or a notarized statement. There is always some trust involved (like when you pickup your dry cleaning for example..) Generally with something of an important nature (not vinyl records) I would think think there is a certain degree of investigation. Of course the fact that someone says they are at Harvard, and a medical professor does not mean that someone couldn't fake being them and write from a gmail account or even a university account with a different name. I would think that would be fairly easy to social engineer actually. That's really the danger here. Or to create a history or a website pretending to be someone important. Ryan has a certain amount of credibility and while apparently a simple search would have pulled up his reputation we don't really know how many people recognized that he was a fraud, only those that fell for his manipulation. And if anyone saw he was a fraud did they report this or just "move along" because they were busy. Articles that quoted him, well, I just looked at a few (to see what he said) and they've already been updated and his name redacted in all but one that I checked: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57369829/6-embarrassing-office-stories-that-will-make-you-cringe/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57369829/6-embarrassi... So has this one: http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10244201-flu-faux-pas-germy-strangers-and-the-etiquette-of-being-sick?lite http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/1024... And this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/technology/personaltech/how-to-enjoy-turntables-without-obsessing-over-them.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/technology/personaltech/ho... (Didn't take the time to check the others).