[Infowarrior] - Chasing High-Tech Fraudsters

[Richard Forno]

Chasing High-Tech Fraudsters
Published: March 07, 2007 in Knowledge at Wharton

In one sense, Frank Abagnale Jr. might seem an odd choice as a featured
speaker at a cutting-edge, computer-ruled event like the Wharton Technology
Conference 2007. That's not just because Abagnale -- the subject of the 2002
Steven Spielberg movie "Catch Me If You Can" -- was one of the most
notorious con men of the 20th century, but also because his technique was so
decidedly low-tech.

Consider what Abagnale -- a teenager at the time -- did in the mid-1960s
when he faked his identity as a Pan Am pilot, a move that allowed him to
travel more than one million miles and visit some 250 cities in 26
countries, free of charge. A key element of his scheme involved faking a Pan
Am ID card, a process he completed by taking the logo from an airplane model
kit sold at a hobby store.

Indeed, while Abagnale's riveting lecture was alternately humorous and
poignant, it also contained an underlying message: Vigilance against
fraudsters and con artists should be even more of a priority now than it was
then, because Abagnale's 1960s schemes were harder work.

"What I did more than 40 years ago is now about 4,000 times easier to do
because of technology," Abagnale said in a brief interview after his speech.
"When I used to print checks, I needed a Heidelberg printing press -- it was
a million-dollar machine, it was 90 feet long and 18-feet high, and it
required different printers and color separators and negatives. Today, I can
open up a laptop, create a check from a large, existing Fortune 500 company,
capture their logo from their web site, print it on their check and come out
with a perfect document in a matter of just minutes."

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http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1677