Welcome to the world of Frank Abagnale, a name synonymous with intrigue, deception, and extraordinary wit. Frank Abagnale’s life story is nothing short of remarkable, marked by his unparalleled skills as a con artist turned security consultant. Born on April 27, 1948, Abagnale rose to infamy in the 1960s for his audacious exploits, which included assuming various identities, forging checks, and outsmarting law enforcement across multiple continents.
Abagnale’s unparalleled ability to elude capture for years, while adopting personas ranging from a pilot to a doctor, has captured the imagination of millions and inspired books, movies, and even a Broadway musical. His experiences have not only left an indelible mark on popular culture but have also provided invaluable insights into the vulnerabilities of modern security systems.
I wasn’t a Pan Am pilot or any other kind of pilot. Frank Abagnale
Christopher Walken and Nathalie Baye played my parents so well that I really thought I was in my living room at Christmas. My mother couldn’t have been played more correctly. Frank Abagnale
I spent five years of my youth in prison – some very bad prisons. Frank Abagnale
Most people don’t reconcile their bank accounts. Frank Abagnale
Why do the Yankees always win? The other team can’t stop looking at the pinstripes. Frank Abagnale
One of the most popular scams is what they call account takeover. You write me a check, and I simply go online to a check-printing service and order 200 checks with your account information. Frank Abagnale
I went to the library and learned how checks work. I found out that routing numbers are like zip codes: the checks are sent to the bank that correlates to the routing number. If I manipulate those numbers to a bank far away, it would take longer to get back to the bank, which gave me more time to write more bad checks. Frank Abagnale
Everything I have today was because of the love of a woman. Frank Abagnale
It is amazing the information we give away. We make it easier and easier for criminals. Frank Abagnale
When I was 28 years old, I thought it would be great to have a movie about my life. I was egotistical and self-centered. Frank Abagnale
In the old days, a con man would be good looking, suave, well dressed, well spoken and presented themselves real well. Those days are gone because it’s not necessary. The people committing these crimes are doing them from hundreds of miles away. Frank Abagnale
I know that people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but what I did was immoral, illegal, unethical, and something that I am not proud of – nor will I ever be proud of. Frank Abagnale
I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life. Frank Abagnale
Every form of payment has some risk associated with it. Frank Abagnale
I was always accepted at par value. I wore the uniform of a Pan Am pilot; therefore, I must be a Pan Am pilot. Frank Abagnale
The truth is, your identity already has been stolen. Frank Abagnale
Most people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but when I look back at my life, I don’t think very much about those years. I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life. Frank Abagnale
You have to believe in what you do. Take something you truly believe in and go about it in an honest way. Frank Abagnale
The Internet is a wonderful thing, but it opens the door to many crimes, so you have to stay ahead of it. Frank Abagnale
You cannot rely on the police, you cannot rely on the government, you cannot rely on the bank to protect you. Frank Abagnale
I was just a guy who ran away from home at 16 because my parents were getting a divorce and the judge was making me choose which parent to live with. I didn’t want to make that choice. I ended up in New York City. Frank Abagnale
I don’t use a debit card. The safest thing is a credit card because you’re using the bank’s money. If someone accesses your information, they are stealing the bank’s money, not yours. Frank Abagnale
A lot of people say I was brilliant. I wasn’t. I was an opportunist: a young entrepreneur who saw things and took advantage. Frank Abagnale
You have to be very limited in who you give your social security number to. Frank Abagnale
I taught at the FBI for four decades – how to think outside of the box and deal with social engineering. Frank Abagnale
I have never witnessed, nor will I live long enough to witness, a more simplistic crime than me stealing your identity. Frank Abagnale
We should be very concerned: if identity theft is so simple to do, what’s to stop me from entering this country and assuming the identity of someone else for the sole purpose of living here illegally for terrorist reasons? That alone would be a concern. Frank Abagnale
I served my time and came out of prison when I was just 26 and have worked with the government for 37 years. But people only remember me for what I did before that. Frank Abagnale
The law sometimes sleeps; it never dies. Frank Abagnale
If I had the uniform on, you didn’t doubt for a moment I was a pilot. No one ever blinked an eye if I tried to cash a cheque wearing that uniform. Frank Abagnale
I think I was so successful, not because I was brilliant, but because I was so young. I had no fear of consequences. Frank Abagnale
It’s amazing how much information we share in social media, then we wonder why people steal our identity. Frank Abagnale
Whether you’re earning $7 an hour or $700,000 a year, it’s very important to protect your credit rating. Frank Abagnale
I never use debit cards. I only use credit cards. This way, if someone does get my account number… and charges $1 million, by federal law, my liability is zero. Frank Abagnale
I didn’t sit outside the bank and plan. I just went in and ad libbed because I was so young. But I was smart enough to know I would absolutely get caught. Frank Abagnale
It’s really frustrating when you’re an identity-theft victim, and you go to the police and you say, ‘This guy in Florida, he stole my name and got a credit card – this is his address,’ and they say, ‘We don’t have jurisdiction in Florida. You need to go to the FBI.’ Frank Abagnale
My father was never really the con-man type that the film shows him to be: he was straight as an arrow, though he did have problems with the IRS. Frank Abagnale
Most people don’t recognize me, but they know my name. TSA people rarely recognize my name, ironically, and they are the security people. Frank Abagnale
Technology breeds crime and we are constantly trying to develop technology to stay one step ahead of the person trying to use it negatively. Frank Abagnale
One thing I’ve found is that if you educate and show people the risk, they will do something about it. Frank Abagnale
If you happen to tell me where you were born, your date of birth and that kind of information, then I’m 98 percent of the way to stealing your identity. Frank Abagnale
When ‘Catch Me If You Can’ was published back in 1980, I never dreamed that it would become a bestseller, much less a major motion picture and now a big Broadway musical. What’s amazing about the book is that it has never gone out of print. Frank Abagnale
When people ask me about being portrayed onscreen by Leonardo DiCaprio, I always say, ‘I love it – no matter how old I get, people are going to think that’s what I look like.’ Frank Abagnale
I was very blessed it was Steven Spielberg who made the movie. He was very much into the redemption side of the story. They asked him in an interview why he had owned the rights to this story for 20 years before he made the movie, and he said, ‘I wanted to see what the real Frank Abagnale did with his life before I immortalised him on film.’ Frank Abagnale
I’m a true believer that you have a moral obligation to keep your employees honest, and that is why you have controls, so I’m never tempted or put in a position where I could do something to defraud my employer. Frank Abagnale
Nothing has brought me more love, joy and peace than being a good husband and good daddy. Frank Abagnale
A real man loves his wife, and places his family as the most important thing in life. Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father. Frank Abagnale
While I was on an undercover assignment in Texas, I met my wife, Kelly. Frank Abagnale
We buy into the computer, and everything that comes from the computer, we believe to be the truth. Frank Abagnale
People say that life is short, but it isn’t short. It’s very long. Frank Abagnale
By the time I had reached the age of 16, in the 10th grade, my parents, after 22 years of marriage, one day decided to get a divorce. Frank Abagnale
People have found very significant and simple ways to cheat their employer and get money out of their employers, and many companies lack good internal controls. Frank Abagnale
I was a millionaire twice over and half again before I was twenty-one. I stole every nickel of it and blew the bulk of the bundle on fine threads, gourmet foods, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, fine wheels, and other sensual goodies. Frank Abagnale
Almost any fault, sin or crime is considered more leniently if there’s a touch of class involved. Frank Abagnale
There is no technology today that cannot be defeated by social engineering. Frank Abagnale
I owe a debt to my country 800 times greater than I could ever repay. Frank Abagnale
You fight technology with technology, so you have to stay one step ahead of the criminal. It’s very much a chess game – they make a move, you have to make a move. Frank Abagnale
I think my wife understood from the day I met her how important she was to me and how important it was for me becoming a husband and a father. Frank Abagnale
If my forgeries looked as bad as the CBS documents, it would have been ‘Catch Me In Two Days’. Frank Abagnale
I kept a notebook, a surreptitious journal in which I jotted down phrases, technical data, miscellaneous information, names, dates, places, telephone numbers, thoughts, and a collection of other data I thought was necessary or might prove helpful. Frank Abagnale
If I had walked into a dry cleaning store, and I had looked over, and the register drawer was open with money inside, I wouldn’t have taken it. Frank Abagnale
Unlike most divorces, where the children were usually the first to know, my parents were very good about keeping that a secret. Frank Abagnale
I don’t do online banking. Frank Abagnale
At the FBI, very rarely do they investigate crime under $100,000. Frank Abagnale
A real man loves and respects his wife and is not only a good father but a man that his kids want to call ‘Daddy.’ Frank Abagnale
In all the years I’ve taught at the FBI Academy, I’ve only seen crime get easier, faster, and harder to detect. Frank Abagnale
We’re coming down to an extremely unethical society. Very few colleges offer courses in ethics, and very few companies have a code of conduct or code of ethics. Frank Abagnale
It’s about taking the time to research and think things out. Honest people and criminals do the same thing; just the direction, good or bad, is different. Frank Abagnale
The Internet can be used to hurt many people. Frank Abagnale
I didn’t like taking money from individuals. Frank Abagnale
Criminals know that if they stay under certain thresholds, nobody is going to come after them. Frank Abagnale
People care about others in their immediate network. Frank Abagnale
The police can’t protect consumers. People need to be more aware and educated about identity theft. You need to be a little bit wiser, a little bit smarter and there’s nothing wrong with being skeptical. We live in a time when if you make it easy for someone to steal from you, someone will. Frank Abagnale
It’s quite flattering to have Leonardo DiCaprio play you in the movie. He’s a great-looking young man. Frank Abagnale
I use a shredder for bank statements and phone bills. Most people use ribbon shredders that cut things straight: we can put those back together in an hour. Look for a security microcut shredder, which cuts papers into confetti. Frank Abagnale
Too many of us are vulnerable, and I look forward to working with AARP to advise people about the safest ways to conduct their financial transactions and manage social media. Frank Abagnale
Had I been older – maybe 25 or 30 – I would have never tried half the things I did because I would have rationalized everything and never did it. Frank Abagnale
As the lawyer, I found most of it was a matter of research, which I was great at – that’s what I did to death – and then basically persuading people that you’re right, and they’re wrong… I found that the easiest of all the professions to impersonate. Frank Abagnale
I contend that there really are no more con men. There’s no need for con men anymore. There’s no need for the very sophisticated, suave guy, the well-dressed guy. Today, you steal with the computer from thousands of miles away – from China, from Libya, from Hong Kong. Your victim’s never going to see you, so there’s no need to be any of that. Frank Abagnale
When I look back at my life now, I’m not amazed by what I did at 16 to 21. Frank Abagnale
I don’t believe that a piece of paper will excuse my actions. In the end, only my actions will. Frank Abagnale
Criminals look at identity theft and say only 1 in 700 criminals gets convicted of it. And they look at check forgery and they know that for every 1,400 forgers arrested, only about 123 get convicted and about 26 go to jail. So the rewards are great, but the risks are very slim. So that’s one of the reasons that make it very popular. Frank Abagnale
I make my home in Tulsa. Frank Abagnale
You should know, whether you live in the U.S. or in the U.K., that your identity has already been stolen. Frank Abagnale
I’m glad I’m a draw. People know that, not only am I the guy that did it, I spent 40 years on the other side. Frank Abagnale
It’s amazing to me that we live in such a wonderful country where anyone can have a problem in life and get up, dust themselves off and start all over again. Frank Abagnale
You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive. Frank Abagnale
Had I been older, I would’ve never been able to pull it off because I would’ve analyzed it to death. When I was 16, there was no such thing as ‘what if.’ Frank Abagnale
Banks are so protected from liability they would have to really do something that was their mistake in order for them to be liable for it. Banks don’t look at signatures. They’re processing millions of checks and they have very little liability. Frank Abagnale
I teach ethics at the FBI academy, which is ironic. Frank Abagnale
We all grow up. Hopefully, we get wiser. Age brings wisdom, and fatherhood changes one’s life completely. Frank Abagnale
I partied in every capital in Europe, basked on all the famous beaches, and good-timed it in South America, the South Seas, the Orient, and the more palatable portions of Africa. Frank Abagnale
You have to be smarter and a wiser businessperson and consumer. You have to learn to protect yourself through education. Frank Abagnale
If you tell me your name and date of birth, that’s all I need to steal your identity. Frank Abagnale
When people write about me, they usually start off with the headline ‘World’s Greatest Con Man.’ Frank Abagnale
If you took a child in London and took their iPhone and took them somewhere else in the country, they’d probably not be able to find their way back. That’s a shame. Frank Abagnale
Airline pilots are men to be admired and respected. Men to be trusted. Men of means. And you don’t expect an airline pilot to be a local resident. Or a check swindler. Frank Abagnale
I’m so different from the egotistical, self-centred person I was when I did those things. And to watch someone acting out your memories on the screen is like reliving it. Like someone taking you back and showing you what you did. Frank Abagnale
A lot of times, when I met somebody and took them out on a date, I obviously didn’t tell them my background, because I didn’t think I’d see them but once or twice. Frank Abagnale
If you look at any successful professional – a salesperson, a marketer, a real estate agent, a trader – they all have the same qualities as the con man. The only difference is that one side uses their talents in the right direction and the con man is taking the easy way out. Frank Abagnale
