The Art of the Steal: How to Recognize and Prevent Fraud--America's #1 Crime

by Frank W. Abagnale

Book Overview

The world--famous former con artist and bestselling author of Catch Me if You Can now reveals the mind--boggling tricks of the scam trade--with advice that has made him one of America's most... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767906837
• ISBN13: 9780767906838
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A must read

This book holds alot of great information on how to protect yourself, it can even make you paranoid, about who has all your info! It is also a great story in itself. A must read with the book Catch Me If You Can.

Strong medicine in sweet sauce

Every person who has two pennies to rub together should read this book. This book should be required reading for ALL law enforcement, consumer finance, and business management personnel, to name just a few.I went through this book at just under the speed of sound. Abagnale took a whole bunch of valuable and complex information and covered it with a string of fascinating and funny stories so that you swallow the whole thing straight down and don't realize how much you learned while being entertained.One tip that hasn't made its way into the book yet: Gel pen ink is the only ink forgers and counterfeiters have not yet learned how to wash off. Buy a cheap gel pen and use it to sign all your checks and credit-card slips.

Great Overview of the World of Financial Fraud

This book, written by "Catch Me If You Can" author Frank Abagnale Jr., is a well written treatise on some of the potential dangers that face us in today's world. The greatest danger is that of financial fraud (so called "white collar" crime). This book presents a very easy read to a somewhat complex subject. Mr. Abagnale provides a great overview of the types of fraud that are out there, how many fraud scams work, and how to protect yourself. While it may seem that the book sometimes borders a bit on the paranoid, I would agree with Mr. Abagnale that fraud is the fastest growing crime in America today. There are an awful lot of folks out there who would love to get their hands on your money and they'll do whatever it takes to get it.I found very facinating the various ways that scam artists are looking to lighten your pocketbook, as well as the pocketbooks of their employers. This is a very fast read and very informative and comes highly recommended!

Informative follow-up to "Catch Me If You Can"

"Art of the Steal" is an informative book from master confidence man Frank Abagnale. It begins as a sequel to Abagnale's "Catch Me If You Can" (filling in the years between the end of the first book and Abagnale's reinvention as a fraud-prevention guru), and quickly becomes a sort of reference book and strategy guide, enumerating numerous prevalent financial scams, and describing sensible techniques for preventing fraud. Abagnale speaks at length about check, credit-card and ATM fraud, counterfeit designer apparel and consumer goods, Internet-based fraud, and security features of modern U.S. currency. The book is well-organized, with plenty of anecdotes throughout (the most entertaining is a phone scam in which somebody uses a 1-900 area code to achieve dubious results). Overall, "Art of the Steal" is not quite as much fun as "Catch Me If You Can", but it's an admirable effort nonetheless. This is a more business-minded book, where you'll find lots of good information, if it's the sort of information you're looking for.

The Art of the Steal

Amazing! This book by Frank Abagnale will open your eyes very quickly to the world in which we live. At first I was hesitant to support an ex-con by purchasing his insights; however, I discovered that his information has always been public knowledge, but only to criminals. Therefore, by making known the elaborate scams taking place today, he provides long overdue education to the good, law abiding individual, and he never charges fees to law enforcement authorities for his input. He covers everything from checking accounts, credit cards, currency, telephone, internet, shopping, to most importantly: the stealing of one's identity. He details the importance of staying abreast of one's credit, and to the importance of being proactive vs. being reactive. Most importantly, the book is engulfed with many real life examples. I'd highly recommend this reading to anyone, not just business. This is the crime of the future, which is already here, that will unfortunatley affect many of us.