He’s one of the most famous fraudsters in America. Leonardo Dicaprio portrayed him in the movie “Catch Me If You Can.”
Today, Frank Abagnale is a rock star in the cyber security industry, speaking at law enforcement and finance conferences across the country. Earlier this month, he was the keynote speak at a University of Texas Center for Identity conference in Austin.
“Technology breeds crime. It always has. So, everything that I did is thousands of times easier to do today,” said Abagnale, a former con man who has worked at the FBI for 40 years after spending 12 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars, mostly through check fraud.
Abagnale said one growing crime includes thieves who send out emails posing as real companies, or phishing, and it’s getting more difficult to spot.
Remember those Nigerian email scams? Most went like this: You get an email from someone who claims to work for the Central Bank of Nigeria. If you call the banker right away, he can tell you how the of two of you can split $20 million.
Phishing emails are much more sophisticated today. Some look down-right real, with logos and links to banks, retailer and government websites identical to the real ones. Some include companies posing as PayPal. It looks so real, KVUE’s Andy Pierrotti nearly thought his account was closed after getting a phishing email alerting of “inactivity.” It simply required the user to “Click on the web address below” to fix it. Don’t do it.
Abagnale said as soon as someone logs on, the criminal would likely clean out the credit card or bank account.
“We’re talking about billions of dollars. It goes back to funding human trafficking, drug trafficking, child pornography. So, not only are they stealing our money, but then they take that money to commit worst crimes against humanity,” said Abagnale.
According to cyber security firm Kaspersky, there was a 87 percent increase in phishing attacks from 2011 to 2013. The majority pose as Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Amazon accounts.
According to one 2014 quarterly report by Kaspersky, more than half the phishing websites in the world are hosted in the United States. The criminals could still be operating from overseas.
“So, you don’t need to be well-dressed. You don’t need to be well spoken. The victim will never see you and it can be done from thousands of miles away,” said Abagnale.
In April, Samantha Shaw got a threatening email from someone posing as an attorney trying to collect a $495 debt. She nearly fell for it.
“I would be in court on Thursday of next week if I didn’t pay right now, today, by end of business day,” said Shaw.
Abagnale says protecting your identity is key to preventing fraudsters from getting your name, home and email address , which often make the scams seem so real.
Web Extra: Frank Abagnale’s tips on how to protect yourself:
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