Frank W. Abagnale Jr\ was born in April 1948. At the age of 16 in 1964, when his parents divorced, he ran away to New York City. He decided to exploit his older-looking appearance and misrepresent himself as ten years older to get a job.
His first con was to print his account number on blank deposit slips and add them to the real blank ones. This meant that the deposits written on those slips ended up into his account. He collected over $40,000 before the bank discovered the trick and he had to change his identity.
In one stage Abagnale masqueraded as Pan Am pilot Frank Williams for two years to get free rides around the world. Everything was billed to Pan Am. He conned the Pan Am HQ to give him directions how to get a genuine pilot's uniform and made an ID card out of a sample model. He stopped when he revealed himself to a girlfriend and she called the police.
He also forged a Harvard Law diploma, passed the bar exam and got a job in an office of a state attorney general. He impersonated a pediatrician and became a resident supervisor in a Georgia hospital. He slipped out when he really would have to treat a child. He forged a Columbia University degree and taught sociology at Brigham Young for a semester.
In the time of five years, he had used eight identities and passed bad checks worth over $2.5 million in 26 countries. The money was used for a lifestyle that would make him more eligible for the ladies.
Eventually he was arrested in France in 1969 when an Air France attendant recognized his face from a wanted poster. When the French police apprehended him, all 26 countries wanted him to extradited. First he served time in France. Then he was extradited to Sweden where he served time in Malmö prison for forgery. Afterwards he was extradited to the USA and sentenced to 12 years in a federal prison for multiple counts of forgery.
In 1974 the USA federal government released him on condition that he would help the federal authorities against fraud and scams - without pay. He founded a company, Abagnale & Associates, that he uses to advise the business world and organises lecture tours.
Abagnale's books
External site
Abagnale's personal site