Federal Inaction Breeds ID Theft, Says Frank Abagnale

  • 18 September 2014
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By: David F Carr  Posted on 9/18/2014
 
 
Onetime "Catch Me If You Can" swindler turned anti-fraud consultant says identity theft is "4,000 times easier" than when he was living a life of crime.
As a young runaway who learned to act older than his years, Frank Abagnale pulled off outrageous stunts of impersonation, living off fictional identities and writing checks against others' bank accounts.
If you read the book, saw the Stephen Spielberg movie, or caught the Broadway playCatch Me If You Can, you know some of that story. Long since reformed, Abagnale has for 38 years consulted with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The truly scary thing is that what we now call "identity theft" is "4,000 times easier today" than when he learned to do it the hard way by learning to manufacture his own ID cards and print his own checks in the 1960s. What used to require a lot of legwork and expensive equipment can now be accomplished with an Internet connection and a color printer.
 
DarkReading/ full article here/ http://www.informationweek.com/government/cybersecurity/federal-inaction-breeds-id-theft-says-frank-abagnale/d/d-id/1315810

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