13. Frank Abagnale Jr.

If you’ve seen the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, you might recognize the name Frank Abagnale Jr. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one years old Frank pulled some of history’s biggest cons.

He wrote over 2.5 million dollars in bad checks by pretending to be a Pan Am pilot. How did he do that? He had called Pan Am and told him he was a pilot who lost his uniform. They believed him and told him where to pick up a new one. He then pretended he was a college student who was doing an interview on the life of a pilot. He easily scored an interview with a Pan Am pilot. He learned everything he needed to know and was then able to hitch rides on various airlines by pretending to be a pilot.

After being a pilot for some time he decided to try out being a medical doctor. He went to Georgia where he worked as a doctor in a small town hospital.

Eventually his crimes caught up with him and he was arrested in France. He spent time in prison before the U.S. hired him to work for the FBI. He worked for the FBI for over 30 years educating them on fraud and how to prevent scams.

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