Frank W. Abagnale
Born and raised in the Westchester County city of Bronxville, New York, Abagnale attended Iona Preparatory School, an all boys Catholic high school which is run by the Irish Christian Brothers. He was the third of four children (two brothers and one sister) born to a French mother, Paula Abagnale, and an American father, Frank William Abagnale, Sr. One of the early signs of his future as a fraudster came when, after purchasing a car, he persuaded his father to lend him his Mobil card. With this card, he would purchase large quantities of car parts, such as tires, batteries, engines and fuel. The purchases were on paper only, the goods were never taken from the shelves. In an agreement with the gas station attendant, he would then immediately return the items for cash for less than the price at which they were purchased, the remainder being pocketed by the attendant. Not realizing that the card was in his father's name, he tricked his dad out of $3400, doing this to pay for dates, before the local Mobil branch sought his father out for questioning and expecting payment. Upon being confronted, Abagnale confessed to his father that "it's the girls that make me crazy", but escaped punishment for the incident. Later, his mother placed him for four months in a special Catholic Charities school for juvenile offenders. In 1964, when he was 16, his parents divorced. The experience was so traumatic that he ran away during a court break. It was the last time he saw his father, though he renewed contact with his mother after seven years. Living alone in New York City after running away, he became known as the "Big Nale", later shortened to just "Big". He decided to exploit his mature appearance and alter his driver's license to make it appear that he was ten years older to get a job. However Abagnale, posing as a high school dropout in his mid-twenties, quickly learned the more education one has, the more one is paid. Desperate to survive, he soon began working as a confidence trickster to earn money. He has since become the founder of a secure-document corporation based in Washington DC. He lectures regularly worldwide and lives in the Midwest with his wife and three sons.
8 Books Written
The charismatic forger immortalized in the film Catch Me If You Can exposes the astonishing tactics of today’s identity theft criminals and offers powerful strategies to thwart them based on his second career as an acclaimed fraud-fighting consultant.Consider these sobering *Six out of ten American companies and government agencies have already been hacked.
The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime
by Frank W. Abagnale
Rating: 3.8 ⭐
The world--famous former con artist and bestselling author of Catch Me if You Can now reveals the mind--boggling tricks of the scam trade--with advice that has made him one of America's most sought--after fraud--prevention experts."I had as much knowledge as any man alive concerning the mechanics of forgery, check swindling, counterfeiting, and other similar crimes. Ever since I'd been
Frank W. Abagnale, alias Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams and Robert Monjo, was one of the most daring con men, forgers, impostors and escape artists in history. In his brief but notorious career, Abagnale donned a pilot's uniform and co-piloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a licence, passed himself off as a college sociology
Find out how to protect yourself from the number one crime in the U.S. This guide includes excellent, up-to-date advice about the newest identity scams and how to avoid them, along with a step-by-step plan for coping with the mess if, despite all precautions, this nightmare crime happens to you.Johanna Bodnyk has done her homework and come up with startling statistics that reveal just how prevalen
Scam Me If You Can: Simple Strategies to Outsmart Today's Rip-off Artists
by Frank W. Abagnale
Rating: 3.7 ⭐
Are you at risk of being scammed? Former con artist and bestselling author of Catch Me If You Can Frank Abagnale shows you how to stop scammers in their tracks.Maybe you're wondering how to make the scam phone calls stop. Perhaps someone has stolen your credit card number. Or you've been a victim of identity theft. Even if you haven't yet been the target of a crime, con artists are always o
Check Fraud, Holder in Due Course, Check 21 & Identity Theft, V6: Check Fraud, National Epidemic; Prevention Best Practices; Check Washing; Check 21 & Check Fraud; Primer on Laser Printing; Check Security Features; High Security Checks; Holder in Due (...
by Frank W. Abagnale
Rating: 5.0 ⭐
Frank W. Abagnale is one of the world's most respected authorities on the subjects of forgery, embezzlement and secure documents. For over 30 years he has lectured to and consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world. Mr. Abagnale has been associated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for over 30 years. He lectures extensively at the
Catch Me If You Can: The True Story Of A Real Fake by Frank Abagnale
by Frank W. Abagnale
Rating: 4.0 ⭐
Frank Abagnale, of "Catch Me If You Can" fame, created this publication as a guide for document and currency verification. Procedures for accepting and identifying legitimate and legal documents are described, as well as methods for authenticating and detecting legitimate and fraudulent identify. Published in 1996, this book remains a tour de force as it was written by a reformed thief whose "care