As James Cook and Michael Leja have demonstrated, these playful exercises in deception helped Americans confront the more serious financial and social frauds of the age.
The settlement is one of the first major efforts by regulators and law enforcement officials to investigate the shadowy market of social media fraud, where armies of fake accounts are sold to businesses, politicians and celebrities seeking the appearance of influence.
One goal they had in the 1990s was to detect social security fraud.
"This would normally be a very simple Social Security fraud case," he said.
In some cases, people detained as terrorism suspects were held on Social Security fraud charges, which are easier to prove.
The clergyman, Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, 40, a naturalized American citizen from Somalia, is being held on two charges of Social Security fraud.
In Government, we have taken firm action against the small minority of rogue landlords, and increased councils powers to tackle social housing fraud".
At the same time, a crackdown on social security fraud — a problem considered as pernicious as the country's widespread tax evasion — has seen some results.
The threat of terrorism, the scale of social security fraud and our approach to asylum seekers are all serious problems in today's Britain.
