Frank Abagnale Quotes
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I would have thought technology would have made it harder to do what I did.
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A lot of people say I was brilliant. I wasn't. I was an opportunist: a young entrepreneur who saw things and took advantage.
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I served my time and came out of prison when I was just 26 and have worked with the government for 37 years. But people only remember me for what I did before that.
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Every form of payment has some risk associated with it.
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I went from 198 pounds to 109 while I was in prison in France, and I had to tie my clothes on with rope.
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I was just a guy who ran away from home at 16 because my parents were getting a divorce and the judge was making me choose which parent to live with. I didn't want to make that choice. I ended up in New York City.
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We should be very concerned: if identity theft is so simple to do, what's to stop me from entering this country and assuming the identity of someone else for the sole purpose of living here illegally for terrorist reasons? That alone would be a concern.
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You get to a point in your life where you go, 'I don't remember what I did.'
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Had I been older - maybe 25 or 30 - I would have never tried half the things I did because I would have rationalized everything and never did it.
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I was very blessed it was Steven Spielberg who made the movie. He was very much into the redemption side of the story. They asked him in an interview why he had owned the rights to this story for 20 years before he made the movie, and he said, 'I wanted to see what the real Frank Abagnale did with his life before I immortalised him on film.'
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One thing I've found is that if you educate and show people the risk, they will do something about it.
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If I had walked into a dry cleaning store, and I had looked over, and the register drawer was open with money inside, I wouldn't have taken it.
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I stole every nickel, dime and dollar and blew it on fine threads, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes and other sensual goodies. I partied in every capital in Europe and bask on all the worlds most famous beaches.
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When I was 28 years old, I thought it would be great to have a movie about my life. I was egotistical and self-centered.
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I was a millionaire twice over and half again before I was twenty-one. I stole every nickel of it and blew the bulk of the bundle on fine threads, gourmet foods, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, fine wheels, and other sensual goodies.
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I speak at a lot of universities, and people are always worried about Facebook, and when I explain how to use it properly, they immediately go back and make those changes.
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When people write about me, they usually start off with the headline 'World's Greatest Con Man.'
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I know that people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but what I did was immoral, illegal, unethical, and something that I am not proud of - nor will I ever be proud of.
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I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.
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I never use debit cards. I only use credit cards. This way, if someone does get my account number... and charges $1 million, by federal law, my liability is zero.
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Criminals know that if they stay under certain thresholds, nobody is going to come after them.
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If you took a child in London and took their iPhone and took them somewhere else in the country, they'd probably not be able to find their way back. That's a shame.
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Mostly, cybercriminals are motivated to commit crime for financial gain.
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We're coming down to an extremely unethical society. Very few colleges offer courses in ethics, and very few companies have a code of conduct or code of ethics.