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Identity Thieves and Credit Card Scammers Stalk U.S. Consumers
Online crime is on the rise. Can the good guys with computers stop the bad guys with computers?
In the late 1960s, con man Frank Abagnale led the FBI and U.S. authorities on quite a merry chase. From impersonating a doctor to pretending to be an airline pilot, Abagnale enjoyed the jet set for years. He fleeced hotels, banks and businesses for millions and had a grand time doing it.
After he was finally caught by the FBI and sentenced for his crimes, Abagnale turned witness for the prosecution- helping the FBI catch others trying his old line of work. All these many years later, Abagnale still works in security consulting, teaching CEOS, law enforcement agents and bank managers how to spot and avoid fraud.
Abagnale- immortalized in the movie, Catch Me if You Can, and played by no less than Leonardo DiCaprio- gets one question over and over from his clients, during interviews, all the time:
“Could you still get away with all that today?”
Abagnale must enjoy the answer he gives; it is job security, after all.
“Not only could I get away with it,” Abagnale tells anyone who asks; “It would be about 4000x easier today.”