‘Catch Me If You Can’ subject gives fraud talk

SOUTH PORTLAND – A former scam artist made famous in the movie “Catch Me If You Can” said Tuesday that check fraud and identify theft have hit epidemic proportions and cost Americans tens of billions of dollars a year.

Frank Abagnale told about 250 businesspeople at a check fraud seminar that thieves are always looking for new ways to steal, but companies can take steps to deter them.

Abagnale was the subject of “Catch Me If You Can,” a film directed by Steven Spielberg about a teenager-turned-con man who cashed more than $2.5 million in bogus checks between the ages of 16 and 21. The movie was based on his book of the same name.

Tuesday’s seminar at the Portland Marriott was sponsored by KeyBank and attended by employees of the bank’s business customers in Maine. Abagnale was scheduled to speak at another seminar at the Spectacular Event Center in Bangor Wednesday morning.

Abagnale said businesses have a number of tools they can employ to deter fraud. They range from using large, bold-faced fonts on checks – making it harder for thieves to scrape off the ink to alter the checks – to putting filters on bank accounts to prevent electronic check fraud.

“There are no criminals looking for a challenge,” Abagnale said, “just criminals looking for an opportunity.”

When Abagnale was a teenager in the 1960s, a judge ordered him to pick which of his parents he wanted to live with as part of his parents’ divorce. Rather than choose, he ran away to New York City, where he began forging checks.

He kept up the ruse for the next five years, cashing fraudulent checks in 26 countries while posing as an airline pilot, a doctor, a prosecutor and a professor. After he was caught at the age of 21, he spent five years in prison.

As an expert in forgery, embezzlement and document fraud, Abagnale is now a security consultant and a public speaker, for which he commands fees of more than $20,000, according to the Web site of the company that represents him.

In 2002, his story was turned into a movie. Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed Abagnale and Tom Hanks played the FBI agent who spent years tracking him down.

In 2002, check fraud losses reached $20 billion and identify theft losses totaled $47 billion, according to Abagnale.

He said there are countless opportunities for fraud. If he could steal millions of dollars as a teenager, imagine what sophisticated criminals can do.

“Technology is only going to make crime easier,” he said. “Always has, always will.”

Kathy Underwood, president of KeyBank’s Maine district, said the bank encourages companies to attend the seminars because fraud is costly to banks, companies and individuals.

“We’re trying to keep one step ahead of the crooks,” she said.