None of this can be true....but....

[Highstool]

I have a new aquaintance. Practically the first time I had an actual conversation with him, he told me how he grew up in another country, but his family had to make a moonlight flit because of their involvement with the mob, when he was 14yo. His uncle eventually went to prison for attempting to murder his father.

This meant his sister had to give up a promising sporting career where she was already competing internationally.

His accent is "correct" for where he lives now because he was deaf until he was in his early 20s, when he had an implant fitted.

He cousin plays for a Premiership FC.

His Grandad is a very famous decorated war hero etc etc

Loads of really far fetched stories, that if they were true, he surely wouldn't have told someone he's only just met.

But it all checks out with stories in mainstream newspapers when you Google.

So is he pretending to be someone else? I just don't know why he'd be telling me!

My (now) DP told me an eyebrow-raising story on the day I met him. His parting words were “google me, I’ll see you tomorrow”

I rushed home from work and googled him… every word was true (I also did some sleuthing of my own, just to double check )

Sometimes, people are telling the truth!

Tbh I’ve some crazy stories to tell regarding my ex and the circumstances I had to leave the country dc were born in. Even more so the circumstances he left. I don’t bother telling folk as I know I won’t be believed though not because I care if they know. The court reporter for family court basically said in his report it was too wild to be believed and that I must have made it up. I hadn’t told the half of it. I also had newspaper reports that he chose not to waste his time looking at as couldn’t be true 🙃. His story obviously checks out so it’s either true or he’s impersonating someone else. Of tire I doubt he has anything to lose telling anyone now and is looking to impress/make friends. Can’t comment on the accent and hearing loss though. The dc I know with implants never speak just like hearing people

Sounds like total bollocks to me, I could put any about of people together to create a 'family' by reading stuff of line. it's not difficult, photos can be adapted deep faked,
My grandmother murdered my grandfather but I don't go telling people she was a hit woman. 😄

What are you asking? None of us know if this acquaintance is a billy bullshitter. Does it matter?

I got chatted up by an old drunk in a pub once who told me he was a poet who'd invented bungee jumping. He gave me his name and number and I never thought about it again other than to think he was mad. I later read a newspaper profile of him and he was indeed a poet who had invented bungee jumping.

Do you usually disbelieve what people tell you and go Miss Marple on Google?

Well sporting prowess often runs in families.

So to have 3 closely related people who are good at sports in the same family is not that implausible.

And some families are just high achieving. I have met some people from families like this. One famous sportsperson, another famous academic etc etc.

People lie

I would be inclined to believe him and he sounds like an interesting addition to your sports club!

I'd check out interesting stories that seem far fetched, yes.

Maybe it all just is true? And if it’s easy to find on google, there’s no point in him keeping it all secret.

it’s weird he wants to go and on about his family history but some people like to talk about themselves a lot I suppose

How do you know that these people are actually related?It wont tell you in the papers if they are connected to each other or him.
The facts about these people can be checked,but not their relationships.
Some of it may be true but not all of it. Anyhow he sounds a monumental bore.

Maybe he's just an interesting guy? Or even if half of it is exaggerating, it must still be interesting to listen to. If you met up with me for coffee or whatever, you'd just have to listen to me rambling on about children, work and housework 😬

How do you know this from reading newspaper articles?

I don’t claim to know much about “The Mob”, but I’m pretty sure they can use Google. If you check out all these various stories and verify that they are indeed a) true and b) interconnected in the way he claims, there’s more than enough info out there for anyone trying to find him. Telling you who he is isn’t what’s going to be the decider here.

You can't find where he is now from the old news stories?

I had a teacher at senior school who told us some interesting stories about herself. Occasionally think of her and wonder how many, if any, were true. I’d generally suspect none except she repeated the same story to different people.

You’ll probably never know the truth of the matter.

It doesn't matter, but it is interesting.

The whole joining a new club, telling everyone every exotic thing that's ever happened in his family and taking people to £££ sports events honestly just reeks of insecurity to me.

I think he's telling the truth but he's telling people because he wants to be liked/popular and be perceived as cool and fascinating. Note none of these stories are actually about himself. Maybe he feels like his own stories and self would be boring and he'd have no mates so he overcompensates by giving everyone the whole family history. Quite sad really if these stories are his whole personality

Could be me, I've led a pretty crazy life, though it's all calmed down now.

All of the stories are about other people - not him.

It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. The stories are unnecessary.

Sometimes when I reflect back on my own life I think gosh. There’s no way anyone would believe that if I laid it all out.

Not always - depends on how much speech therapy and his hearing levels

If you’ve seen a picture of him with his sister I don’t understand why you don’t believe him. Have I misunderstood that?

I’m sure someone else has pointed this out but if you’re that concerned about how safe he is sharing this information with a small group of people he’s met face to face why have you posted his family history on mumsnet?