A twisted hoaxer admitted this week to pretending to be missing child Timmothy Pitzen — cruelly giving false hope to the boy’s loved ones — and will serve two years in prison, minus time served.

Ex-con Brian Michael Rini, 24, said his sick plot was sparked after watching a “20/20” special on Pitzen, who was just 6 when he went missing from his home in Aurora, Illinois, in 2011.

The Ohio impostor came forward last April, saying he was the now-14-year-old missing boy and had just escaped two kidnappers who sexually abused him.

DNA tests soon revealed his true identity, but not before he delivered a “painful” knock for the Pitzen family, with dad James Pitzen saying at the time that it was like a “scab being ripped open.”

Rini, of Medina, pleaded guilty in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday to aggravated identity theft and his defense agreed with prosecutors that it requires a two-year sentence.

While he will be officially sentenced later, Rini was told he will be credited for time served dating to his arrest last April. He will also be on one year of probation after his sentence.

Rini, now with a neatly trimmed beard, answered Judge Michael Barrett with a soft “Yes, sir,” when asked whether he understood the consequences of his plea.

Prosecutors dropped charges of lying to FBI agents that could have seen him facing as much as eight years in prison if convicted.

Pitzen vanished after his mother pulled him out of kindergarten, took him on a two-day road trip to the zoo and a water park, and then killed herself at a hotel.

She left a note saying that her son was safe with people who would love and care for him, and added, “You will never find him.”

With Post wires