Replacement Theology: Why do so many people think they are Israelites?

[White Israelite]

I am running into a lot of groups claiming to be either the "true Israelites" or "a lost tribe of Israel" what is the deal lately?

I've run into groups that try to claim they are the original people like the "Black Hebrew Israelites" who claim they worship Yah, and that only Blacks and Native Americans are Israelites, I've heard white nationalist movements claim that European nations are the true Israelites.

I've heard Mormons claim they are descendants of the tribes and claim they support the Jewish people but then they claim all other groups are part of the lost tribes who are not.

There is a fringe group in Japan that really believes they are of the lost tribes, there was even a television show using false matchup of the Hebrew and Japanese words to claim similarities when the words didn't even mean the same thing.

There are even Gypsies now who are posting on Yahoo because they are so ashamed of their heritage that they truly want to believe they are Israelites or related to Jews.

What's the deal? From my understanding, the only people who can claim to be descendants of the Israelites are Jews and Samaritans.

[Irish Zionist]

All of these people are ashamed and/or have no history of their own so they make up these lies. I heard this statement from Chaim on one of my questions ask JTF. So credit goes to Chaim.