The 'fall guy' can refer to different things. In a general sense, a fall guy is someone who is wrongly blamed or made to take the blame for others' mistakes. In some real - life scenarios, it could be a person in an office who is set up by colleagues to be the scapegoat for a failed project. Maybe they were excluded from important meetings or not given all the necessary information, and then when things went wrong, they were the ones who got fired or reprimanded.
One key element is the presence of someone or a group who wants to avoid blame. They are the ones who will look for a fall guy. Another element is the vulnerability of the fall guy. This could be due to their position, lack of power, or lack of information. For example, a junior employee is more likely to be a fall guy compared to a senior manager in a company.
In a fall story I know, a kid fell from a swing. The consequence was a broken arm. He had to go to the hospital immediately, got an X - ray, and had his arm put in a cast. He couldn't play freely for a long time after that and had to be careful even after the cast was removed.
They usually face a lot of public scrutiny. Take the case of some whistleblowers who are made out to be the fall guys. They are trying to expose the truth, but instead, they are painted as troublemakers. They might be isolated and have their reputations damaged. They often find themselves in a situation where they have few allies and are fighting against powerful forces. They have to deal with the consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time or being misused by others with more power and influence.