Catch me if you can?

The king of fraud flies in to help banks beat menace of ID theft
By Will Pavia

ONE of America’s most famous fraudsters arrived in London yesterday to warn Britain about identity theft.

Frank Abagnale, 58, whose life story inspired the Leonardo DiCaprio film Catch Me If You Can, is to advise banks, utility companies and large retailers on how to combat fraud.

His advice to the Government is that identity cards will provide new and greater opportunities for identity theft. And he has told the public: never trust e-mail, buy a “criss-cross” shredder and employ a security company to monitor your bank account 24 hours a day.

Mr Abagnale’s CV includes a five-year spell in which he cashed $2.5 million (£1.3 million) from bad cheques, successfully assumed eight identities and passed himself off as a paediatrician, a lawyer and a pilot for Pan Am.

When he was finally arrested in 1969, Mr Abagnale was wanted by authorities in 26 countries and, after serving sentences in France and Sweden, was returned to the US and jailed for 12 years.

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