Paternity fraud occurs when a mother names a man to be the biological father of a child, when she knows or suspects that he is not the biological father. Paternity fraud is a criminal offence in the UK and certain states of the US. A mother is permitted to not state the name of the biological father if she does not know it. Paternity fraud is a form of misattributed paternity. The term entered into common use in the late 1990s. It has been given significant coverage by US activists and authors Tom Leykis, Glenn Sacks and Wendy McElroy.