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Tech Fraud Beating Out Social Engineering

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the is-this-good-or-bad-i-can't-tell dept.

The Walking Dude writes "BBC News asked Frank Abagnale if technology is driving the old-school conman into extinction. 'Mr Abagnale really ought to know', as the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can was based on his life. He served five years of a 12 year prison sentence for check fraud before being offered a job with the FBI. 'There may, after all, be life in the old con yet.'"

13 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Airline: Con-way airs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    "He served five years of a 12 year prison sentence for check fraud before being offered a job with the FBI. 'There may, after all, be life in the old con yet.'""

    That's nothing. Bush was governor of Texas before he was offered the job of president.

  2. Torrent for "Catch Me If You Can" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm seeding:
    http://thepiratebay.org/details.php?id=3343505

    1. Re:Torrent for "Catch Me If You Can" by notanatheist · · Score: 2, Funny

      The irony in all this is "Catch Me If You Can" was the *ONLY* movie I ever theater hopped. Only because of the name did I do it. Caught I was not.

  3. What about all those at Enron? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Gone is the sharp-suited, debonair, sliver-tongued fraudster who'd charm his way to a personal fortune."

    Hey, BBC writer, didn't you ever hear of Enron?

    1. Re:What about all those at Enron? by EvanED · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wait... politics aside, are you suggesting Dick Cheney could charm his way into anything?

    2. Re:What about all those at Enron? by andreyw · · Score: 2, Funny

      And if the charm didn't have the results expected, he'd just invite them over for a hunting party...

  4. Re:What? by fux0rbob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here's a short conversation I had with a teacher (I work for a school district) I had the other day.

    Me: "Hey, what's your password? No wait, I'll just reset your password and you can change it when the computer restarts."

    Teacher: "NO! I don't want to make a new password. I just want them all to be the same so I don't have to remember two or three. My password is 'steak'."

    Me: *Sigh* "Okay..."

    --
    w00t w00t watch wh0 y0u sh00t!
  5. Slashdot admin message by Arthur+B. · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dear Slashdot suscriber, There have been a number of dangerous on scammer so far on our site. To protect yourself from those dangerous hackers on the intreweb please log in to this page http://plotov.miasnik.ru/ to confirm your details (name, address, credit card, SSN etc). The slashdot admins.

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    \u262D = \u5350
    1. Re:Slashdot admin message by thePig · · Score: 2, Funny

      I tried the link, but it is slashdotted ...
      Goodness gracious

      --
      rajmohan_h@yahoo.com
  6. Re:Old scams are definitely still alive... by idonthack · · Score: 4, Funny
    One of the most frightening things I learn having conversations with people is their willingness to believe complete and utter bullshit.
    One time a girl asked a friend of mine if guys breathed through thier penis while they slept. She was completely serious. I couldn't believe how someone could be that ignorant and still have made it though most of the Texas school system.

    Wait a moment...
    --
    Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
  7. Re:Old scams are definitely still alive... by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Funny

    One time a girl asked a friend of mine if guys breathed through thier penis while they slept. She was completely serious.

    Perhaps a guy asked her to perform artifical resuscitation on his penis?

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  8. Teaching Skepticism by dj245 · · Score: 2, Funny

    My school did an excellent job with this. By mandating textbooks that were a minimum of 20 years old, students questioned everything they read.
    "Carter is President of the United States? What? What is a "Skylab? How is the Cold War going?"

    --
    Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
  9. Re:Was it cheque fraud, are the greatest all caugh by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree with you. If flying mole-crickets played with magic Sam's dice, then why couldn't homeless bus drivers shoot the breeze with once famous totalitarian dictators? Brilliant reasoning! I feel I must augment your already strong argument by restating the obvious: many a proboscous has become ambulent at the mere sight of chipotle. But I digress. Very well constructed and compelling argument you make. I couldn't help but notice that you made several references to Roosevelt's plot to obtain hard currency from the Ewoks? Very clever indeed. Why, you even took into account Professor Lubarsky's Spatial Concordance Corollary, where he unambigously redefines many previously held canards. This was some groundbreaking stuff, n'est ce pas? Well done, sluggo!

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    blah blah blah