One thing we can do without any legislation is teach our kids better ethics. I was talking with a top executive of a big company, and he told me something his teenage son confided to him. After school lets out, his son gathers with his friends in the parking lot and they take out their homework sheets. They look at the math assignment and divvy it up: “You do problems 1–5, you do 6–10, I’ll do 11–15. And then we can e-mail each other the answers.” It was a sobering discovery. The executive told his son, “You get an A for creativity and a D for not learning anything.”
I heard about high school students at another school who were counterfeiting tickets to the annual school musical and selling them. There’s hardly any money involved—but it’s the thrill of the scam. Otherwise decent kids are being corrupted, because it all seems so harmless. It’s not about lawbreaking as much as beating the system. Everyone wants to get from point A to point B as quickly as they can.
I’m not trying to overly scare you. I don’t like habitually skeptical people, and it’s not my desire to breed a country of paranoid citizens. But in this land of milk and money, I’ve seen too many cons, come across too many phony products, watched too many slick pitches. Once you become a victim of a major fraud, your whole life changes. It takes the average person two years to clear his or her credit once it’s been corrupted. And it may take a lifetime to recover from the emotional anguish.
You need to start looking at the world the way I do, with eyes wide open. Ask me when fraud will stop and the answer is never. Fraud has become one of the constants of life. To bet against its continued inroads without action being taken is a sucker’s bet. We have to decide: Do we take control of fraud, or does fraud take control of us? We have the might to reduce fraud. The question is, do we have the will?
APPENDIX
[FRAUD RESOURCES]
Abagnale & Associates
(800) 237–7443
www.abagnale.com
Secure document consultants.
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
(800) 424-3410
www.aarp.org
A national organization of people fifty years or older, it offers tips on fraud prevention, especially crimes against the elderly.
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
(800) 245-3321
www.cfenet.com
An international organization dedicated to fighting fraud and white-collar crime through prevention and education.
Authentication News—Reconnaissance International
www.reconnaissance-intl.com
(303) 779-1096—U. S.
44 (0) 1784-497008—England
A trade publication that covers counterfeiting of all manner of products and news of the latest techniques to combat counterfeiting.
Boise Cascade
(503) 224-7250
www.bc.com
A leading manufacturer of secure check stock. Although individuals or companies can’t buy checks from them, printers can purchase their paper.
Consumer Federation of America
(202) 387-6121
www.consumerfed.org
A national organization of consumer groups, it dispenses information on fraud and acts as an advocate for consumers.
Council of Better Business Bureaus
(703) 276-0100
www.bbb.org
An organization of local Better Business Bureaus, it provides consumer assistance and tries to arbitrate consumer complaints. It can direct you to your local Better Business Bureau.
Council of Foundations
(202) 466-6512
www.cof.org
A nonprofit association of grantmaking foundations, this is a good resource to check on the legitimacy of a charity or foundation.
Department of Justice—Identity theft:
www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.htm
This government website offers tips on how to prevent identity theft and lists recent cases.
Equifax
Credit Bureau
(800) 525-6285 (report fraud)
www.equifax.com
One of the three major credit reporting agencies. It furnishes information and tips about preventing fraud.
Experian
Credit Bureau
(888) 397-3742
www.experian.com
Another of the major credit reporting agencies that also offers suggestions on guarding against fraud.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
(202) 324-3000
www.fbi.gov
The Justice Department’s law enforcement arm, the FBI investigates federal crimes and offers tips on fraud prevention and lists of the most common frauds.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
(800) 934-FDIC
www.fdic.gov
The entity that insures bank deposits and promotes sound banking practices. It provides consumer assistance in dealing with banking matters under federal consumer protection laws.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
(202) 326-2222
www.ftc.gov
The government agency that enforces many federal antitrust and consumer protection laws. The place to go for information, or to file a complaint for things like loan scams, telemarketing fraud, charity scams, phone swindles, lottery scams, and identity theft.
Immigration and Naturalization Services
(202) 514-1900
www.usdoj.gov
The government agency that deals with immigration matters, and the place to go for information about passport fraud and scams involving fraudulent immigration documents.
InterGov
(317) 823-0377
www.intergov.org
An international organization devoted to safe use of the Internet, it offers online scam prevention services.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
(800) 829-1040
www.irs.ustreas.gov
The IRS provides information on tax frauds and investigates tax crimes and related financial crimes. Companies can report embezzlers to the IRS and consumers can file complaints about fraudulent or deceptive charities with the agency.
The Nilson Report
(805) 983-0448
www.nilsonreport.com
The leading trade publication covering consumer payment systems.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
(800) 613-6742
www.occ.treas.gov
The agency of the Department of Treasury that regulates national banks and deals with fraud involving these banks.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
(619) 298-3396
www.privacyrights.org
A nonprofit consumer information, research, and advocacy program that offers tips on how to safeguard your personal privacy. It deals with issues like Internet privacy, identity theft, telemarketing, medical records, workplace privacy, among others.
Product & Image Security Magazine
(847) 318-1524
www.eci-internationa.com/ pismain.htm
The official journal of the Label and Tag Security International Association, it covers the problems of counterfeiting, retail theft, and product tampering, along with solutions to these threats.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
(202) 942-8088
www.sec.gov
The agency that regulates sales of securities and public offerings, it can answer questions about security transactions and verify the registration of securities dealers and firms.
Social Security Administration
(800) 772-1213
www.ssa.gov
The government agency that administers the Social Security program, it offers a hot line to report fraud involving your Social Security number and furnishes information on identity theft.
Standard Register Company
(800) 755-6405
www.standardregister.com
An industry leader in providing secure documents. It offers a wide array of se
curity features that will protect your documents against fraud. It services many of the leading Fortune 500 companies.
TeleCheck
(800) 835-3243
www.telecheck.com
The leading check acceptance company, it offers electronic check conversion, check guarantee, and check verification services to businesses and merchants.
TransUnion
Credit Bureau
(800) 680-7289
www.transunion.com
One of the three major credit reporting agencies. It disseminates an array of fraud prevention information.
United States Federal Reserve Bank
(202) 452-3946
www.federalreserve.gov
The body that regulates state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System.
United States Secret Service
(202) 406-5708
www.treas.gov/usss
The government agency charged with investigating counterfeiting of U.S. currency and safeguarding the payment and financial systems of the United States. It also investigates financial institution fraud, computer fraud, and cases involving false identity documents, among other crimes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
More people helped in the preparation of this book than I could name, but I would like to express my thanks to all those who shared their stories of fraud with me, especially Michelle Brown, Jim Fowler, the director of security at Unilever, E. King Rogers, the vice president of loss prevention at Target, and Lewis Kontnik, the publisher of Authentication News.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the three thousand companies and associations that have given me the opportunity to work with them over the years, most notably the Standard Register Company, Profit Recovery Group, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Citibank, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Key Bank, Union Bank of California, First Data Corporation, Data Business Forms-Canada, and Leigh-Mardon-Australia.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the outstanding and truly dedicated men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who have supported me over the last twenty-five years and have afforded me the great privilege of being able to teach at the FBI Academy and assist with programs in the field offices of the bureau throughout the United States.
For their editorial wisdom, my thanks to Charles Conrad of Broadway Books, as well as to his assistant, Becky Cole. I could not have written this book without the help of Sonny Kleinfield, and I thank him for all his assistance and encouragement.
Most important of all, a special acknowledgment to my wonderful and loving wife, Kelly, who has supported me and loved me for more than twenty-five years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author of Catch Me If You Can, Frank W. Abagnale is now one of the world’s most respected authorities on counterfeiting and secure documents. For more than twenty-five years he has worked with the FBI’s Financial Crimes Unit. Today he teaches at the FBI Academy and for the FBI’s National Academy, a program that instructs local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies nationwide. The founder of a secure-document corporation based in Washington, D.C., he lectures regularly worldwide. He lives in the Midwest with his wife and three sons.
ALSO BY FRANK W. ABAGNALE
Catch Me If You Can (with Stan Redding)
This book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information on the subject of the prevention of fraud. It is sold with the understanding that neither the Author nor the Publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services by publishing this book. As each individual situation is unique, questions relevant to the prevention of fraud and specific to the individual should be addressed to an appropriate professional to ensure that the situation has been evaluated carefully and appropriately. The Authors and Publisher specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this work.
THE ART OF THE STEAL. Copyright © 2001 by Frank W. Abagnale. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.
Broadway Books titles may be purchased for business or promotional use or for special sales. For information, please write to: Special Markets Department, Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.
BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Visit our website at www.broadwaybooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abagnale, Frank W., 1948–
The art of the steal: how to protect yourself and your business from
fraud—America’s #1 crime / by Frank W. Abagnale.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Fraud—United States. 2. Swindlers and swindling—United States.
3. Consumer protection—United States. I. Title.
HV6695 .A23 2001
362.88—dc21 2001035607
eISBN: 978-0-7679-1091-0
v3.0
Frank W. Abagnale, The Art of the Steal
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