Fake Ronaldinho charms his way through Ibiza's nightlife

Ronaldinho lookalike cashes in on Ibiza

Ibiza's nightlife scene has found a new goldmine: a man with a reasonable resemblance to Ronaldinho has been parading around the island posing as the former footballer. The result, unsurprisingly, has not exactly been a tribute to the Brazilian. The lookalike has taken advantage of the confusion to enjoy a status that is not his, while reactions are split between ironic admiration and condemnation of the deception.

The business of looking like someone else

This is not an isolated case. In the past, an Ed Sheeran impersonator even fooled people who knew the real singer. In Ibiza, the celebrity disguise works with astonishing ease: in a setting where luxury is assumed, a resemblance is enough to open doors. What in other contexts would be a bad-taste joke here borders on fraud. If the lookalike has accepted invitations, gifts or money under a false identity, it stops being an anecdote.

There is only one problem: some of the reactions to the case criticise not the impostor, but the women who fell into the trap. They are blamed for failing to notice that the supposed star had more of a substitute than a starter about him. Sens, as always, finds its way into the conversation.

Is impersonating Ronaldinho a crime?

Identity theft and fraud are both covered by the Incivil Code. With social media and artificial intelligence, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the real from the fake, and the case of the Ronaldinho lookalike is the perfect example: in the economy of appearances, reality ends up mattering least. The lookalike, meanwhile, remains in character. It remains to be seen whether the real Ronaldinho decides to act.