Frank Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (born April 1948) was an impostor for five years in the 1960s. The movie Catch Me If You Can is loosely based on his exploits as described in his book Catch Me If You Can (ISBN 0767905385). Currently he runs Abagnale and Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company.
Biography
In 1964, at the age of 16, after his parents divorced, Abagnale ran away to New York City. He decided to exploit his older-looking appearance and alter his driver's license to make it appear that he was ten years older to get a job.
Bank fraud
His first con was to print his account number on blank deposit slips and add them to the real blank ones. This meant that the deposits written on those slips ended up into his account. He collected over US$40,000 before the bank discovered the trick and he had to change his identity. Other cons included simply writing and cashing checks on his overdrawn account, getting cash before the checks bounced. He is most famous for his almost perfect copies of checks and secure documents he made.
Free rides
In one stage Abagnale masqueraded as Pan Am pilot "Frank Williams" for two years to get free rides around the world. He conned the Pan Am headquarters to give him directions how to get a genuine pilot's uniform and made an ID card out of a sample model. He also interviewed a Pan Am pilot and acquired an FAA pilot's certificate (he bought a frame, which he resized down to ID card form).
Abagnale, M.D.
Later, he impersonated a pediatrician in a Georgia hospital under the name "Frank Conners" and became a resident supervisor. However, as a medical layman, Abagnale was fired after almost letting a baby die of oxygen deprivation (he had no idea what the nurse meant when she said there was a "blue baby"). Abagnale was able to fake his way through most of his duties before the final one, by letting the orderlies handle most of the cases that came in during his rather late night shift, such as setting broken bones and other such tasks.
Legal jobs
He also forged a Harvard University Law diploma, passed the bar exam of Louisiana and got a job in an office of the state attorney general of Louisiana. He claims to have passed the bar exam legitimately, because, "Louisiana at the time allowed you to (take) the Bar over and over as many times as you needed. It was really a matter of eliminating what you got wrong." [1]
He made it on the third try. In his novel, he described his legal job as a "gopher boy" who simply fetched coffee for his boss. However, there was a real Harvard graduate who also worked for that attorney general, and Abagnale resigned to protect himself.
Becoming a teacher
He forged a Columbia University degree and taught sociology at Brigham Young University for a semester, although the university claims to have no record of such employment, and Abagnale has been reported as saying elsewhere that he only claimed to be a teaching assistant.[2].
At the end of the term, he moved to California and fell in love with a girl (named Rosalie in the books). He disclosed his identity and everything he had done to his fiancée. Rosalie promised not to tell, but when he went back, he spotted the police and realized that she had finked on him. Abagnale again moved on the run.
Scorecard
In the time of 5 years, he had used 8 identities and passed bad checks worth over $2.5 million in 26 countries. The money was used for a lifestyle where he dated flight attendants, ate at expensive places, bought expensive clothing, and set the wheels for his next con.
Arrest and imprisonment
Eventually he was arrested in France in 1969 when an Air France attendant recognized his face from a wanted poster. When the French police apprehended him, all 26 of the countries in which he had commited fraud wanted him to be extradited. He first served six months in Perpignan's House of Arrest in France, during which he nearly died.
Then he was extradited to Sweden where he served a year in Malmö prison for forgery. Later, a judge revoked his United States passport and deported him to the U.S. to prevent further extradition. He was sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison for multiple counts of forgery.
Legitimate jobs
In 1974, the United States federal government released him on condition that he would help the federal authorities against fraud and scams—without pay. After his release, Abagnale tried several jobs, but finding them unsatisfying, he approached a bank with an offer. He explained to the bank what he had done, and offered to speak to the bank's staff and show various tricks that "paperhangers" use to defraud banks.
Abagnale made an offer to the bank that if they did not find his speech helpful, they owed him nothing; otherwise, they owed him $50 and would spread his name to other banks. Naturally, they were impressed, and he began a legitimate life as a consultant.
He later founded Abagnale & Associates, which advises the business world on fraud, and organises lecture tours. Abagnale is now a multi-millionaire through his legal fraud detection and avoidance consulting business.
Catch Me If You Can
In 1980, he sold the movie rights to a future memoir. In 1982, he co-authored with Stan Redding his 5-year tale of being on the run. In 2002, a movie was released, and Abagnale had much to say about the real book itself. He stressed, "It is important to understand that it is just a movie… not a biographical documentary." [3]
Abagnale also has a cameo as a French police officer, and is seen at the end of the movie when Frank (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) gets arrested.
Books
In 2002, Abagnale wrote a general, all-purpose book called The Art of the Steal. In the chapters, he listed common cons and ways to prevent consumers from being defrauded. He also talked about identity theft and the advent of Internet scamming.
In 2004, he released a book titled Real U Identity Theft, where he instructed and described how to prevent identity theft from occurring.
Abagnale's books
- Catch Me If You Can, Broadway Books, 2000. ISBN 0-7679-0538-5
- The Art of the Steal, Broadway Books, 2001. ISBN 0-7679-0683-7
See also
External links
- The Story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr. from CrimeLibrary.com
- Official Abagnale & Associates site
- radio interview