Catch Me If You Can (2002)

FRANK W. ABAGNALE (Author/Consultant) is today one of the world’s most respected authorities on the subjects of forgery, embezzlements and secure documents. However, more than 35 years ago, he was better known as one of the world’s most infamous confidence men. Between the ages of 16 and 21, he successfully posed as an airline pilot, an attorney, a college professor and a pediatrician. During that five-year period, he cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks across the United States and in 26 foreign countries.

Apprehended by the French police when he was 21 years old, he served time in prisons in France, Sweden and the United States. After five years, he was released on the condition that he would use his expertise to help the federal government by teaching and assisting its law enforcement agencies. Over the past 25 years, Abagnale has more than met that condition.

Believing that punishment for fraud and recovery of stolen funds are extremely rare, Abagnale teaches prevention as the only viable course of action. He has developed new procedures and created manuals and educational programs utilized by over 14,000 financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and corporations. He lectures and instructs extensively at the FBI Academy and field offices, and conducts more than 140 domestic and international seminars each year with the single objective of instructing attendees how to reduce their exposure to fraud, forgery and embezzlement.

In the private sector, Abagnale designed the IPS Official Check used by thousands of financial institutions in place of cashiers’ checks. He also designed and developed the SAFEChecks™ and Check Plus™ programs that provide small and medium businesses with an inexpensive secure check. His expertise is relied upon by three major secure document printers and credit card manufacturers. In addition, he is a consultant to the nation’s largest accounts payable auditing firm.

Frank Abagnale’s consulting business includes document reviews and design as well as specialized training and seminars. In his continuing efforts to provide companies, law enforcement and institutions with up-to-date information on today’s high-tech crimes, Abagnale publishes The Client Service Bulletin, a document devoted exclusively to the education in and prevention of forgery and embezzlement. He also publishes The Abagnale Document Verification and Currency Transaction Manual and the quarterly Abagnale Advisor Newsletter. In 1998, he was selected as a distinguished member of the "Pinnacle 400" by CNN Financial News.

Since authoring the bestselling 1980 memoir Catch Me If You Can, Abagnale has more recently written The Art of the Steal. The book chronicles the remarkable story of how he parlayed his knowledge of cons and scams into a successful career as a consultant on preventing financial foul play, while also showing the reader how to identify and outsmart perpetrators of fraud.

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