Frank Abagnale Jr. is one of the most popular
fraudster of our times. And I bet many of you already know his story. His
genius frauds were presented in a book “Catch
Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake” written by himself and Stan
Redding and in a movie made by Steven Spielberg starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Frank Abagnale specialized in impersonations and forgery. He was only
15 years old when he committed his first fraud. His first victim was his father
who gave him a credit card to buy gas. Young Frank in order to afford dates
with girls came up with a scheme. He
allegedly was buying tires, car batteries etc., but actually he bribed the gas station attendants to give him cash
instead.
Later on he started writing bad checks and he overdrew
his account by thousands of dollars. He realized that it wouldn’t be long
before someone caught him. He came up with an idea to create new accounts under
different names. That is when the impersonations began.
His first impersonation was Pan Am pilot. He chose this profession
because he believed pilots were highly respected. He also wanted to travel
around the world for free. But how to make people think that you are a pilot?
First, Frank called Pan Am and said that his
uniform is lost. He picked it up at the supplier’s
showing his fake ID. When he wanted to gain some knowledge about the company
and the industry, he pretended to be a student writing a project on aviation to
meet the Pan Am management. Frank also faked a Pan Am ID and a FAA license and
he was ready to fly for free across the country.
There were many more frauds and new identities
such as a medical doctor and an attorney. Eventually he was caught by the FBI. In exchange for his
freedom, he started working with the FBI and helping them catch fraudsters and
prevent fraud. He has been working as their expert for over 40 years now.
Watching the movie I happened to notice that I
actually admire Frank Abagnale’s doings and I was amazed by his ideas.
- What do you think of him?
- Have you ever heard of Frank Abagnale Jr.?
- Frank Abagnale said: “What I did in my youth is hundreds of times easier today. Technology breeds crime”. Do you agree/disagree and why?
Sources:
- http://www.biography.com/people/frank-abagnale-20657335#early-crimes
- http://www.businessinsider.com/frank-abagnale-crimes-2012-4?IR=T#he-created-fake-transcripts-and-posed-as-harvard-trained-lawyer-in-louisiana-7
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale
Comments
I agree with the statement that 'Techology breeds crime'. Nowadays it's much easier to cheat and personete of someone else. It takes about few minutes to create a fake personality an the Internet and do whatever we wants being that person, who doesn't excist in real.
I totally agree that nowadays, it's easier to commit frauds. Great example could be making a duplicate of some license, some time ago you had to know how the thing which you're going to forge look like, now you can check it on the internet.
Regarding Frank Abagnale, I knew it was actually his story, and I must say that it was actually impressing, how bright and sharp a person can be to achieve all of the goals he set for himself. In my opinion it ended up very soft on him, because he actually got to earn money cooperating with FBI thanks to his skills of committing crimes.
In relation to what he said regarding the technology, I agree. There is so many different ways of faking something and making money that it is actually terrifying. Every couple of months we hear of enormous frauds or hacks, and how many there is that we do not hear of?
Of course, I think that impersonations and forgery in against the law, but I always admired smart people so there is a mixed feeling about him.
And what about Frank Abagnale Jr.? Is he making the same things?
I agree with the citation. Now its really easier to rob people.
Frank Abagnale Jr. was really ingenious. I only know his story form the movie but he seems like a kind of guy that has really courage and is not afraid of doing things that others would not even think of! I mean becoming a pilot the way he did is such a crazy idea. I am not sure if it would be easier for him nowadays. Maybe some crimes or frauds could be easier to make, but also it might be easier for the FBI to catch him.
Nevertheless, I think that this man really had an open mind!
This is the example when you could commit the crimes and stay unpunished. And the story is good and bad at the same time.