Hoaxes are events, characters, and objects that were invented or deliberately presented as genuine. This category collects Nizhny Novgorod simulacra: fabricated stories, nonexistent landmarks, and fictional biographies presented as real facts.
Examples include the Women's Wish Box on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, presented as a city tradition, and Zhmyrikov, a character woven into the fabric of real Nizhny Novgorod media. A separate place is held by Alexander Lavrov, an artist whose work with illusion and the substitution of reality itself borders on hoax.