A group of Dutch army veterans have set up a special Facebook page to out people they say are pretending to have served in the Dutch armed forces.

The group, calling itself Dutch Stolen Valor, wants to combat the growing number of fake veterans taking part in military parades and remembrance ceremonies, the Telegraaf says on Wednesday.

Fakes who are photographed will end up on Facebook, although their photographs will be removed if they pledge not to do it again, the group says.

Market Garden

One photograph on the site includes a man captured on camera at the recent Market Garden commemorations in Arnhem. His row of ribbons are actually a volunteers award, a medal for completing a four day walk and a number of jubilee medals from veteran organisations, the Telegraaf says.

‘Veterans have fought for their medals,’ the group told the Telegraaf. ‘It hurts if you see members of the public applauding for fakes with a whole row of ribbons while the real hero with two medals gets ignored.’

Some fake soldiers even have tattoos showing where they have ‘seen’ active service.

Editor’s note: the illustration has been removed from this article after DSV removed several photographs from its website after legal advice.