How to tell a fake

Now and again you meet a certain type of businessman in Addis Ababa;
someone who wants to start something but doesn't have anyone behind him.
I suppose it's a common challenge most entrepreneurs will face. "Come
meet my friends. They're all from California," said the guy with
dreadlocks, trying to urge us from the sidewalk to a little open-air bar
on the side of the road. He had first approached my colleagues and I
trying to speak the few words of Chinese he must have picked up along
the way in his quest to befriend people. My colleague "M" just smirked
and it almost made me want to end the suspense and just tell the guy
'they are not Chinese!' However, then he asked me if I was American. I
asked him where he was from and he said Portland. I said I was from
Chicago, to which he replied, "Ah, Illinois, right?" I have never met an
American in my life that feels the need to confirm that Chicago is in
Illinois. It reminded me of when people ask, "Oh, I have a friend who
lives in America. Do you know John Mekkonen?" As we walked away, he
called out behind us, "Don't front, it's all good in the hood."