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"I'm still a con artist. I'm just putting down a positive con these days, as opposed to the negative con I used in the past," he explains. "I've applied the same relentless attention to working on stopping fraud that I once applied to perpetrating fraud." His expertise comes in handy: businesses lose an estimated $400 billion each year to fraud. The stories Abagnale tells in The Art of the Steal provide fascinating glimpses of a criminal underworld. He describes "shoulder surfers" who rip off bank customers at ATMs by videotaping their fingers as they enter PIN numbers, retrieving receipts from wastebaskets, and then creating fake credit cards--all rather inexpensively. Whole sections of the book almost read like a how-to manual for aspiring thieves, though Abagnale has other motives. Throughout, he offers sensible advice on how to foil the con artists. Much of this is common sense (cut up credit cards when they expire), but some of his suggestions aren't so obvious. He warns readers not to write checks to the "IRS," for instance: "Envelopes to the IRS are common targets because of where they're going." Instead, checks should be made out to the "Internal Revenue Service," because criminals can turn the "I" of "IRS" into an "M," and turn a tax payment into a gift for "MRS." Smith. The chapter on the emerging problem of identity theft--with its tips on how to keep Social Security numbers private--is especially helpful. In all, The Art of the Steal is captivating and useful. --John Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
There's this thing they always say about con men: they live a chameleon existence. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The beginner's guide to understanding fraud.,
By
This review is from: The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime (Paperback)
This is the beginner's guide to understanding the sinister world of fraud in the United States and throughout the world. Mr. Abagnale describes some of the techniques confidence men use to further their malicious aims -- and what we can do to stop it. Perhaps one of the most interesting chapters is the one on counterfeiting. Here, we tend to think of those crazy characters who think they can create a $20 bill from their laser printer. Instead, all sorts of things are counterfeited, unfortunately. Those who counterfeit very detailed, expensive, and highly technical products, such as airline parts, are malicious individuals who have absolutely no regard for the welfare of those who they are subjecting to this abuse. Thankfully, as Mr. Abagnale points out, many of us are capable of preventing ourselves from being victims. We do not have to be victims. If we heed the advice of Mr. Abagnale--formerly a confidence man himself--perhaps we can prevent further abuses. We'll never stop fraud, he tells us. Of course. But if we read his and other books on stopping it, at least we won't be the victims.
4.0 out of 5 stars
comprehensive and pretty up-to-date,
By
This review is from: The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime (Paperback)
This is a very easy-to-read and useful compendium of information about common forms of fraudand how to protect yourself from them. I've read numerous books of this type, and this is the one I would recommend most highly today for being up-to-date and comprehensive. Abagnale often gives unsourced anecdotes, but there are several that I recognize from newspaper or other accounts I've read. My only real complaints with the book were that Abagnale says he uses his children's birthdays for his PIN numbers (p. 149) which is bad advice given the ease of obtaining birth certificates, his account of being the victim of credit card theft over the Internet (pp. 151-153) doesn't seem entirely accurate unless he really did submit his credit card number, and his statement about viruses arising from mere copying of legitimate software (p. 176) is incorrect. He also missed an opportunity to warn about fake escrow sites (p. 162). Apart from this, however, I think the book contains very valuable warnings and advice.
4.0 out of 5 stars
This book changed my view on the world,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime (Paperback)
I picked a book - "Catch me if you can" on the counter at the grocery store. It's been two-three month since I see the movie. So I decide to check how book would be different from the motion picture. Needless to say I was eating this book by the hour, by the end of the second day I was over and I were still hungry. I went to the store and bought "The Art of Steal". I probably will never forget this book experience. It changed my view on the world, it changed me. I would joins Tom Hanks and everybody else who would advice this book as something everybody should read.I gave this book 4 start just because I think that Frank Abagnail has not picture the world of Internet fraud quite correctly. As IT specialist I felt that Frank sometimes oversimplifies or making the problems bigger then they really are. The book is not a story like and it's contains a lot tips, facts, etc., which might get tiresome to read, so I had sometimes to force myself through chapters.
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