Frank Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant who is famous for his former identity as a con-artist, check forger, impostor, and escape artist. He claims to have assumed eight different false identities in his life, successfully impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer. He was the target of a long-running and frustrating FBI investigation during his career as an impostor, and he escaped from police custody (once from a plane taxiing on the runway, and once from a U.S. federal prison) before he was 21 years old.
He served fewer than five years in prison and then began to work for the United States government; he currently works for the FBI and runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company.
Frank Abagnale was born in Bronxville, New York, and lived there until he was sixteen. His first con victim was his father, who gave him a gasoline credit card and a truck when he was fifteen so that he could get to and from his part-time job. Instead of using the card to buy gas as intended, Abagnale used it to buy tires, batteries, and other products at gas stations and then sold the products to people for cash. His father was liable for a bill of $3,400 for all the products Abagnale charged to the card.
Abagnale's next tricks focused mostly on cashing personal checks for money that was not in fact in his bank account. This never works for long at a single bank, so he began to open other accounts at different banks, eventually adopting several different identities to enable this. Abagnale's cons grew in scale and sophistication. He became very skilled over time, and he devised a variety of schemes for defrauding banks.
As his crimes became increasingly serious, Abagnale went on the run and adopted a variety of false names and identities to evade police. He impersonated a pilot because he wanted to fly throughout the world for free; he procured himself a Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) uniform and created a false pilot's ID and a false pilot's license. Pan Am estimated that between the ages of 16 and 18, Abagnale flew on over 250 flights and to 26 countries with his false pilot identity. He also stayed at hotels and ate most of his meals billed to the airline during these years.
He never actually flew a plane but was always "deadheading" or supporting the primary pilot on the flight.
Another ambitious false identity Abagnale assumed was that of a doctor; for nearly a year, he impersonated a chief resident pediatrician in a Georgia hospital. The position was possible for Abagnale because as a supervisor he was not expected to do real medical work. He was able to convincingly fake his way through his days by allowing the medical interns to handle the cases that came in during his shifts. He left the hospital after several close call incidents in which he realized he could put lives at risk because of his lack of medical expertise. Abagnale went on to impersonate a teacher and a lawyer as well, using similar strategies of forging his credentials and crafting a new identity with a new name and personal back story.
Abagnale was eventually caught in France in 1969 when an Air France flight attendant he dated previously recognized him and notified the police. When the French police arrested him, 12 different countries revealed charges of fraud against him. He was deported to the United States but escaped from the plane as it was taxiing on the runway of New York's JFK International Airport. He was recaptured in Canada and handed over to the U.S. Border Patrol. In April 1971, Abagnale reportedly escaped again from the Federal Detention Center in Atlanta, Georgia, while awaiting trial. He was captured and imprisoned again, and in 1974, after he had served less than five years of his 12-year prison sentence, the United States federal government released him on the condition that he help the federal government to investigate crimes of fraud.
Since his release from prison, Abagnale has also appeared in a number of TV shows as a celebrity con man. In 1980, Abagnale wrote the book Catch Me If You Can, based on his life story. The book was adapted into a 2002 film of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale. The film was a financial and critical success, and the real Abagnale reacted positively to it. As the ending credits of the movie reveal, Frank has been happily married for 26 years, has three sons, lives in the Midwest, has caught some of the world's most elusive money forgers, and, although he does not receive money for the film's profits, Abagnale earns millions of dollars each year because of his work creating unforgeable checks.
He served fewer than five years in prison and then began to work for the United States government; he currently works for the FBI and runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company.
Frank Abagnale was born in Bronxville, New York, and lived there until he was sixteen. His first con victim was his father, who gave him a gasoline credit card and a truck when he was fifteen so that he could get to and from his part-time job. Instead of using the card to buy gas as intended, Abagnale used it to buy tires, batteries, and other products at gas stations and then sold the products to people for cash. His father was liable for a bill of $3,400 for all the products Abagnale charged to the card.
Abagnale's next tricks focused mostly on cashing personal checks for money that was not in fact in his bank account. This never works for long at a single bank, so he began to open other accounts at different banks, eventually adopting several different identities to enable this. Abagnale's cons grew in scale and sophistication. He became very skilled over time, and he devised a variety of schemes for defrauding banks.
As his crimes became increasingly serious, Abagnale went on the run and adopted a variety of false names and identities to evade police. He impersonated a pilot because he wanted to fly throughout the world for free; he procured himself a Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) uniform and created a false pilot's ID and a false pilot's license. Pan Am estimated that between the ages of 16 and 18, Abagnale flew on over 250 flights and to 26 countries with his false pilot identity. He also stayed at hotels and ate most of his meals billed to the airline during these years.
He never actually flew a plane but was always "deadheading" or supporting the primary pilot on the flight.
Another ambitious false identity Abagnale assumed was that of a doctor; for nearly a year, he impersonated a chief resident pediatrician in a Georgia hospital. The position was possible for Abagnale because as a supervisor he was not expected to do real medical work. He was able to convincingly fake his way through his days by allowing the medical interns to handle the cases that came in during his shifts. He left the hospital after several close call incidents in which he realized he could put lives at risk because of his lack of medical expertise. Abagnale went on to impersonate a teacher and a lawyer as well, using similar strategies of forging his credentials and crafting a new identity with a new name and personal back story.
Abagnale was eventually caught in France in 1969 when an Air France flight attendant he dated previously recognized him and notified the police. When the French police arrested him, 12 different countries revealed charges of fraud against him. He was deported to the United States but escaped from the plane as it was taxiing on the runway of New York's JFK International Airport. He was recaptured in Canada and handed over to the U.S. Border Patrol. In April 1971, Abagnale reportedly escaped again from the Federal Detention Center in Atlanta, Georgia, while awaiting trial. He was captured and imprisoned again, and in 1974, after he had served less than five years of his 12-year prison sentence, the United States federal government released him on the condition that he help the federal government to investigate crimes of fraud.
Since his release from prison, Abagnale has also appeared in a number of TV shows as a celebrity con man. In 1980, Abagnale wrote the book Catch Me If You Can, based on his life story. The book was adapted into a 2002 film of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale. The film was a financial and critical success, and the real Abagnale reacted positively to it. As the ending credits of the movie reveal, Frank has been happily married for 26 years, has three sons, lives in the Midwest, has caught some of the world's most elusive money forgers, and, although he does not receive money for the film's profits, Abagnale earns millions of dollars each year because of his work creating unforgeable checks.