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Week 8 [28.11-04.12] CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Story of a genius fraudster

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. 

  1. What do you think of him?
  2. Have you ever heard of Frank Abagnale Jr.?
  3. 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:

Comments

Unknown said…
I admire Frank Abgnale. I have heard about him. It's interesting that FBI hires this type of people. I heard a lot of times about hackers who work for FBI. I agree with what he said. Today it is easy to do something illegal. Technology helps. Many years ago nobody believed that one day we will pay with mobile phones.
Sylwia Pechcin said…
To be honest, I have never heard about him (is it a shame on me?).
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.
Unknown said…
I only know that story from the movie (which I had enjoyed much). I admire him because I'm really, really bad at pretending (I've always admired a little criminalists who succeded without violence and managed to fool the system). Perhaps it's easier today to steal people identities but probably harder to do it with such a style.
Unknown said…
I've never heard about him before, but I loved the story. I don't care he was kind of criminal, I admire ingenious people having much wits to deceive the system. That's really funny that FBI hired him, great chance for him, he is now being perfectly well off.

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.
Unknown said…
First, I saw the movie - I liked it, mostly because of Leonardo DiCaprio I think :) Then I heard that movie was based on a real story - I couldn't believe it. The more I read the more unbelievable it was. I think that it was something unbelievable and that he has to be very skilled.
Unknown said…
I haven't seen this film, but certainly I will watch. The most important is that you understand your mistakes. Unfortunately, in Poland, you have to cheat and combine to form your business and earn good money. Without it's hard to open your business but it should be done in moderation
Unknown said…
I didn't see that movie but after reading this article, I will definitely catch up with that! I know that FBI and other special agencies are hiring hackers and criminals to work for them, but this story is unbelievable! That is true that nowadays it is so easy to do something illegal especially in the web...
Unknown said…
I might be the only one but I despise that guy a bit. I admire his cleverness, but come on, he still comitted a crime. If you steal, even from big company it is still qualified as stealing. Identity theft, especially pretending to be a doctor generates risk, not only for the thief himself but others too. I also wouldnt say that commiting a crime is easier today, especially when even so called "dark web" becomes invigilated by certain agencies all around the world. New technologies have backdoors enabling certain companies to listen to what we do, which results in lesser anonimity in internet.
Unknown said…
I've seen that movie a couple times. While I'm amazed by the way Frank commited these crimes I'm disappointed by the fact he weaseled out the punishment by becoming FBI expert. He was avoiding responsibilities and hard work majority of his life, and then, when it came to point he should pay for his doings he managed to pull off his biggest stunt and evaded jail.
Michał Pycek said…
I think this movie is a ''must watch'' movie thanks to the plot, the ideas which were displayed there and also thanks to great play of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
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?
Piotr Basiński said…
In my opinion it's good that now he work on the good side of the barricade. He commited very bad and not moral crimes. It's terrible thats he claimed to be a doctor, pilot ect. some people could die. For example first pilot could lost consciousness and he would have to replace it. How can this scenario end. Not good I think. It's sad but it's true that now with technology it's easyer to do crimes.
Kacper Zaremba said…
I've never heard of Frank Abagnale Jr. before and I will be very glad to watch movie about him. It seems that, he wasn't committing frauds to make money, but he was just addicted to being a fraud. Even after getting caught he did his best to sneak out of responsibility.
Unknown said…
Oh! I've watched this movie and it is just amazing! I was astonished by the man who could cheat on the whole country and on the FBI. Unfortunately, I haven't heard about the real character of this story, so thank you for sharing this story.
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.
Unknown said…
This guy reminds me Kevin Mitnik, about which probably all of you have heard of. It’s one of the world’s well-known hackers. When he was a kid he wanted to travel trough the Los Angeles for free by bus, he really enjoyed observing landscapes from the window. He was facking the tickets without using a technology. Also, he claimed that hackers don’t hack computers - they hack people. And I think that if someone would combine some social engineering skills with technical skills - he would be able to do similar things as this guy did. And being frankly I really like his personality and how smart he is.
I didn't know about him until now. It's pretty impressive how he got away with all that. Although it's weird that he didn't face any consequences. Is it actually said anywhere why they didn't do anything but hire him?
Of course I’ve heard about Frank Abagnale, I really admire his creativity and intelligence. I really love the book “Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake” but to be honest I’m not the biggest fan of the movie, as almost always the book wins :). I do agree with his words, that it’s much easier to commit some kind of fraud, if you want you can find almost everything in the internet on how to do something illegal.
Watched the movie many many times. Leonardo Di Caprio is just perfect in that role. He found an easy way to be a pilot of Panam Airlines and had a lot of money from it. Of course I know it's just a pure fraud but the idea was just genius. Love the end of it when Frank and the FBI agent, were working for a company specialized in Frauds (who would knew better how to cheat than him ? :)
Moode said…

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!
Unknown said…
If you have never heard about him, I advise to watch the movie! It is great and amazing actors are starring in it :)
Unknown said…
Actually, at the beginning I don't think that he was even paid, because he had to earn what he has stolen.
Unknown said…
It is controversial that he didn't go to jail. However I think that it was a good move of the FBI. They turned his ability to commit fraud into something good - preventing those kind of frauds. And who would better know than the fraudster himself what to focus on while fighting those crimes?
Unknown said…
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough: Frank Abagnale Jr. is the fraud and Frank Abagnale is his father :)
Unknown said…
Well, he was for some time in jail actually. It was in France and in Sweden. When he was deported to the US he managed to escape but they caught him pretty quickly.

Dajana Kubica said…
Unfortunately, I never watched the movie. After reading the articles, I think that if someone directed Frank in the right direction, now would be a millionaire and enjoy the freedom, without the need to help the FBI. I think that he must be a very smart and intelligent man. I would love to meet him. I agree with what he said. Today's technology allows for very much, and good proof for that are news we receive every day. I recommend movie Mr. Robot. Perhaps some situations are exaggerated in this movie, however, a large part agrees with reality. With a little luck fraud can be unprovable.
Unknown said…
I enjoyed this film, but didn't think about the origin of that story. I love that genre, when you don't call such guys a villains, but it depends the situation. Of course, he is very talented and the story is so exciting, and we all tend to like the bad characters in the movies, but my opinion is dual. Of course, in that film he is very sympathetic, but if one of my family would face such a person and suffer in real life, I would hate him and demand the justice.

This is the example when you could commit the crimes and stay unpunished. And the story is good and bad at the same time.
He's definitely a really smart man, and it's amazing for me how far he went with some of those frauds, that nobody even noticed something strange. He took many risks, probably more than I'd ever imagine to, so I do admire him in some way, although I wouldn't call it very positive one :). I must admit though, that he really nicely tricked those people during his first impersonation - that isn't hard to do in real life without getting caught. You need to know what to do, and when to do, to not become suspicious.
KamilG said…
I've heard about genius - Frank Abagnale too. I watched the movie about him "Catch Me If You Can". I was really impressed by his bravery and cunning. I agree with this what he said absolutely. Dark side of web offers many opportunities to commit the crime easily. On the internet are many places which aren't controlled by anyone. It allows criminalist to be anonymous.
Adam Nowak said…
Technology can make doing scams even easier. Internet is a great place to scam people, because nearly noone could check your ID on the internet. That's how scams like phising works. On the other hand, if people would use new technologies properly, then we could erase crime to negligible levels.
Unknown said…
I love the movie. The scene where he pretends to be a teacher is probably my favourite. Anyway, if it's at least partially true, kudos to him - it must take a great degree of confidence and courage to be able to try those things, even if it's a criminal offense in most cases.
I know about Frank Abgnale for a while now. I think he is a genius. We all know that in USA they can make a movie of anyone and anything but the fact that he has his movie based on his life is really amazing. And it is also awesome how his life turn out. Who would have thought that he became a FBI consultant? I know that he is a criminal and there is nothing to adore about it but I have to admit that all of the things he has done are impressive. Can you imagine pretending to be a pilot or lawyer and go away with it? I can't and that is why I respect that man.

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