Robin van Helsum, the "Forest Boy" who hoaxed German authorities for nine months with a fantasy about living rough in the woods, was running away from a troubled background and financial concerns, a friend of his told NBC News.

Ray van Ravensberg, Robin's childhood friend, shed new light on the Dutchman whose story -- and supposed mystery identity -- flummoxed police in Berlin and attracted headlines around the world. 

Van Helsum's scam was exposed last week after he was identified by his stepmother in The Netherlands following the distribution of a police photograph. 

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum, who ran away from home in Hengelo, a Dutch town near the border with Germany in September, came from a broken home, did not get along with his stepmother and fought constantly with his father, who was very strict.

"He started to stop with school and stop with work, and the only thing he did was sitting on the computer and, yeah, just screwing around."

'Forest Boy' mystery solved: Man admits lies over identity

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum moved out of the house and went for "room training" -- a Dutch program in which teenagers with problems at home are put into a government care program and live with groups of people their own age from similar backgrounds -- a type of youth hostel.

But then van Helsum got into more trouble, becoming a loner, spending hours on the computer and arguing with the owners of the hostel because he could no longer pay his bills.

"His life was really complicated," van Ravensberg said as he struggled to explain his friend. "He doesn’t have anything like I do -- he doesn’t have parents who will cover [him] if [he's] in financial debt, like I do. [My parents] will help me, I can talk to them."

Van Ravensberg went on to explain that a young woman whom van Helsum dated a few times, perhaps for some financial help, became pregnant.

"First she said she was a few weeks pregnant, but she was already pregnant for a longer period of time, and he didnt want to have the child, and she wanted to keep it."

That might have been the turning point for van Helsum. Shortly afterward, he ran away, determined to escape and start a new life somewhere, somehow.

'Forest boy' mystery: Stumped German police release photo

Van Ravensberg said van Helsum is really smart and proved it by staying nine months in Germany without getting caught.

When he arrived in Germany, van Helsum told the police his name was Ray and he was a 17-year-old orphan -- that’s all he could remember.

The act was convincing. The Germans were intrigued by his story and provided him with care. The fantasy about living rough for five years in the German forests was so heart-rending that he became an international sensation. No one thought he could have made it up. But he did.

Van Ravensberg defended his old friend. "It started with his own life. He already had complications, and it became more and more -- financial, girlfriend, child and, yeah, his bucket was way too full.

"He just wanted to have a new bucket."

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AFP / Getty Images

Known as "Forest Boy," a young man turned to authorities in Berlin nine months ago saying he had lived in a forest for five years and did not know who he was.

Updated at 9:40 a.m.: MAINZ, Germany - Police in Berlin said on Friday the mysterious "Forest Boy", who turned up in the German capital nine months ago claiming to have lived in woods for several years, has admitted inventing his story after he was identified.

Investigators said a woman in The Netherlands contacted Dutch police, saying she recognized the young man as her 20-year old step-son who had gone missing in September.

Police said the man admitted inventing the story about his name, background and supposed 'wild' life in the woods.

"We are 100 percent certain that he is this 20-year-old boy, because his step-mother positively identified him," a police spokeswoman told Die Welt.

The woman said she saw a picture that had been issued to the international press on Wednesday by German authorities seeking clues on the mystery man’s identity.

The boy, who first told police he was called Ray, told authorities he had been living in woods until the death of his father. He said his father told him he was born June 20, 1994 -- which would have made him 17 -- but claimed not to know his last name or where he was from.  

'Forest boy' mystery: Stumped German police release photo

Ursula Kinzel, a spokeswoman for the Berlin police told NBC News: "In the police interrogation today, the young man admitted that his name is Robin and that he had made up the story which he had been telling police and youth authorities for the past 10 months." 

Kinzel added that "officials here are evaluating whether they will launch criminal proceedings over social benefit fraud against the Dutch man".

"It turns out that the young man presented a Pinocchio story,"  police spokesman Michael Maass added. "We now know that the young man turned 20 in April and was reported missing in the Netherlands by his family last September."

AFP / Getty Images

German investigators say a woman in The Netherlands contacted Dutch police to say she recognized "Ray" as her 20-year old step-son who had gone missing in September.

Officials stressed that the young man has not been placed under arrest and that he would be free to leave.

"Ray" told police his mother, Doreen, died in a car accident when he was 12, after which he and his father, Ryan, took to the forest. He said they wandered using maps and a compass, and stayed in tents or caves overnight. 

However, police said he had quickly adapted to city life and technology, using a laptop and cell phone with no problems. "There are many question marks," police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said on Wednesday.

The case echoes that of the 'Piano Man', a mysterious figure who turned up at a hospital in Britain in 2005 apparently unable to speak and with no clues to his identity except a talent for playing the piano. After spending months in a psychiatric hospital he admitted he was a German man who had fled to Britain after losing his job. 

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Berlin Police via AFP / Getty Images

A boy who calls himself "Ray" is seen after arriving in Berlin in September 2011.

MAINZ, Germany -- Berlin police on Wednesday released a photograph of the so-called "forest boy," an English-speaking youth who wandered into the German capital nine months ago saying he had lived in the woods for five years with his father.

Investigators have failed to identify him and police are now hoping the image will prompt leads from the public.

The boy has told authorities his father called him "Ray" and that he was born June 20, 1994. However, he claims not to know his last name or where he's from. 

"We have checked his DNA against all missing person reports, sent the data to Interpol so that they could check it internationally, but unfortunately without any success," police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said.

Investigators told NBC News that DNA evidence suggests Ray is most likely from a neighboring country, as opposed to the United States. Authorities also believe that English might not be his native language.

The boy was unable or refused to give his family name or any other biographical information when he showed up at the German capital's City Hall on September 5.

English-speaking teen: I lived five years in woods

He said his mother, Doreen, died in a car accident when he was 12 and after that he and his father, Ryan, took to the forest. He said they wandered using maps and a compass, staying in tents or caves overnight. 

'Many question marks'
He told authorities that after his father died in August, 2011, he buried him in the forest and then walked five days north before ending up in Berlin. Police told NBC News that they have not been able to find a corresponding dead body.

"There are many question marks," Neuendorf added.

Ray has also quickly adapted to city life and technology, using a laptop and his cell phone with no problems.  

"Everything gives the impression that he was not far away from civilization for years," Neuendorf told The Associated Press.

The boy is being taken care of by youth services and has been assigned a legal guardian.

Ray is described as being somewhere between 16-20 years old and about 5-foot 11-inches tall. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes, and three small scars on his forehead, three small scars on his chin and a small scar on his right arm. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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