Who is Frank Abagnale?
The early days con artist
Frank Abagnale Jr. is a French-American security consultant, author, and lecturer. He is known for his history as a con artist and check forger from the late 1950s until his capture in the early 1960s.
Abagnale’s criminal career began when he was just sixteen years old. He subsequently escaped from prison on three different occasions, before finally being caught by the FBI in 1969 at the age of 21. Today, he spends his time lecturing to business audiences around the world on how they can avoid fraud and counterfeiting scams.
The Early Years
At the age of just 16, successfully passed himself off as a pilot, a doctor and an attorney.
Frank Abagnale Jr. was born on April 27, 1948 in Bronxville, New York to parents Frank Abagnale Sr., and Paula Abagnale. His father was a poor French immigrant who worked as a construction worker while his mother was an employee at the local bank.
Frank grew up in a lower-middle-class family with four siblings and he had to take care of them from the age of 12 after his father died from diabetes complications when Frank Jr. was just 15 years old.
He attended school for just six months before dropping out to become a full-time con artist. He started by forging cheques when he was only 16 years old but soon moved on to impersonating other people by forging their signatures or using fake IDs which he made himself using paper and rubber stamps
Exploiting the Travel Industry
The travel industry is a huge market and it’s not surprising that it is also a target for fraudsters. Frank Abagnale, Jr. exploited the industry through airway fraud. According to Pan Am, Abagnale flew on over 250 flights as a fake pilot with over 1 million miles traveled and visits to 26 countries. He was able to take advantage of the process of ‘deadheading,’ whereby company employees would be given free flights. He managed to get a group of college students to work as stewardesses (female flight attendants) for him as he needed them in order to escape suspicion for his tricks. Their presence was the misdirection he needed.
To the Banks and Beyond
Frank Abagnale is a famous con artist who was able to successfully defraud banks using only his wits.
He used different techniques to get money from the banks, but one of them was to forge checks and cash them. He would also take the deposit slips from the bank and use them at other branches to withdraw more money. He was able to successfully defraud banks and other companies by impersonating different professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.
This is an example of how social engineering can be used to steal money from unsuspecting people. Some of his most famous scams were making up fake identities and forging checks.
Conclusion and Lessons Learned
The first lesson is that you need to know what you’re talking about in order to convince people you are someone else. Frank Abagnale knew enough about his various roles – pilot, doctor and lawyer – that he was able to convince others he was qualified for them without anyone questioning him or finding out who he really was.
The second lesson is that there’s no such thing as bad publicity and this applies especially well in the business world where your reputation matters more than ever before. In order to be successful today, you need people talking about your brand
Abagnale’s story is fascinating because it shows that even people with high intelligence can fall prey to their own greed and ambition. It also shows that it is possible to turn your life around once you have made a mistake.
