Frank Abagnale is one of the world's most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement and secure documents. For over thirty-five years, Frank has consulted and advised with many financial institutions and government agencies around the entire world. "Frank Abagnale is one of those people I'd follow to the ends of the Earth " (Malinchak 1). Abagnale was born on April 27, 1948, in Bronxville, New York. He was one of four children with parents Frank Abagnale Sr. and Paulette Abagnale. Frank had a happy childhood, until his mother unexpectedly decided to leave his father. This was a huge turning point in Franks life. .
As a teenager, Frank got caught up in petty crimes, first was shoplifting. Then he grew into more sophisticated forms of burglary. Abagnale began using his fathers gas credit card to make a tidy profit. Frank did this by convincing gas attendants to give him a portion of his sale back in cash, and then allowed them to pocket a portion of the proceeds. Abagnales scam fell apart when his dad received his credit card bill, which topped several thousand dollars. Franks scam wreaked havoc throughout the family and his father decided to send him off to a private school for wayward boys. Abagnale was not interested in school at all and left home at the age of sixteen to live on his own. .
Frank left home with just $200 in his bank account and no formal education. He then decided he was going to alter his driver's license to make himself ten years older than he really was, he also exaggerated his education to others. Doing this helped Frank receive better paying jobs, but still did not allow him to make ends meet. Using his checkbook, Frank decided to quit his job and start writing bad checks to support himself. Before long he had written hundreds of bad checks and overdrawn his account by thousands. Frank then knew it was time for him to go into hiding. Frank decided pilots were highly respected professionals, so he schemed his way into getting a pilots uniform.
