Essex academic's imposter 'copied work and tattoos'
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Matt Lodder said his imposter not only copied his work but also how he dressed - and even his tattoos
An academic has told how a student in the United States adopted his identity, copied his tattoos and submitted his unpublished professional research as his own.
Matt Lodder, senior lecturer in art history at the University of Essex, has carried out wide-ranging work into the history of tattooing practice.
The unnamed imposter, he said, went as far as to present his work at conferences.
Mr Lodder said it was "pretty creepy".
The 40-year-old said the imposter, who was studying for a masters degree in the US, used a variety of fake identities to get him to send over unpublished research.
He said the student then submitted the work as his own and presented it at conferences.
"He also dressed like me, posed for photos matched to ones of me, told people he had done things that I'd done, and most scarily of all, copied my hand tattoos exactly," Mr Lodder posted on Twitter, external.
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Mr Lodder said it came to light after the imposter liked a photo on fellow academic Anna Friedman's Instagram account, only for her to discover he had copied her website and biography and presented them as his own.
Ms Friedman said she was "flabbergasted to find the total theft" of her website and alerted Mr Lodder as she discovered his material had been copied too.
Mr Lodder said the man was caught out two years ago, but he decided to only now share his story after the "dust had settled".
'Very disturbing'
Mr Lodder, who lives in Colchester where the University of Essex is based, said: "Plagiarism is normally a sin of laziness, not something people normally put a lot of effort into.
"But the sheer multi layers of this were kind of astonishing."
Ms Friedman, who lives in the Chicago area, added: "His impersonation of me never reached the same level of creepiness as it did with him copying Matt's personal style and tattoos, but it was very disturbing nevertheless."
Mr Lodder said they reported the student to his university and he was subsequently removed from his course.
He said it was not reported to the police as plagiarism was not a criminal offence and the student did not harass or threaten him.
The last he, knowingly, heard from the imposter was when he received an email apologising, Mr Lodder said.
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