Catch Me If You Can

Frank W. Abagnale’s life was full of lying, forgery, impersonation, and evading prosecution. The amazing true story, Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale, tells of the deception that he pulled from the age of sixteen to twenty-one. Frank learned quickly what it took to become the biggest conman in American history. Being one of the youngest people to be put in the FBI’s most wanted list, his life never had a dull moment.

Abagnale first started his ingenious scheme by getting a new birth certificate and changing his age by ten years. When he was only seventeen, his birth certificate stated that he was twenty-seven! After obtaining the fake birth certificate and changing his name to Frank Williams, he decided to impersonate a Pan Am airline pilot. Abagnale wanted to be a pilot because he could travel anywhere on a plane for free. He obtained a Pan Am pilots uniform by telling Pan Am headquarters that he lost his pilots uniform and needed a replacement. After receiving his uniform, Abagnale made a fake ID card using a Pan Am sample. He then made a fake FAA pilots certificate and reduced it down to an ID card size. Frank was ready to deadhead, or ride, on planes around the world. Traveling around the world opened opportunities for Frank to cash fake checks.

Frank made hundreds of fake checks and fooled cashiers worldwide. Abagnale created these fake checks by developing near perfect fraud checks, depositing them on overdrawn accounts, and then getting cash before they found out his account was withdrawn. Frank did this for over the five years and continued to change his name while setting up new bank checking accounts. This made Frank over 2.5 million dollars! This was only one of many schemes. When Frank was merely seventeen, he impersonated a teaching assistant, doctor, and lawyer. Being the conman that he was, Frank forged a Columbia University degree and taught sociology for a semester at Birmingham Young University. Another impersonation Frank did was...