Last August, the Texas Department of Transportation started asking applicants for more documentation after discovering that at least 11 of the 67 Legion of Merit license plates on the roads had been issued to people who never earned the medal.
"This kind of fraud matters, because it cheapens the valor of service, warps the historical record and scams taxpayers of millions of dollars in veterans’ benefits," said Doug Sterner, a decorated former Army sergeant.
Last September, the House of Representatives passed a bill naming a post office in Las Vegas after a World War II veteran who, it later turned out, had lied when he claimed he had been awarded a Silver Star. The legislation was rescinded.
In May, one of the most prominent veterans’ advocates in Colorado was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after it was discovered that his story about heroic service in Iraq and severe injuries from a roadside bomb was an elaborate hoax.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/us/02imposters.html?_r=1&hpAnd we do have a name for them that I won't repeat in polite company.