The Art of the Steal

By: Frank W. Abagnale

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In his celebrated best seller Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale recounted his youthful career as a master imposter and forger. In The Art of the Steal, Abagnale tells the remarkable story of how he parlayed his knowledge of cons and scams into a successful career as a consultant to businesses on preventing financial foul play - while revealing to listeners how they can identify and outsmart perpetrators of fraud.

Technology may have made it easier to track down criminals, but cyberspace has spawned a skyrocketing number of ways to commit crime - much of it untraceable. In fact, Frank Abagnale has discovered that punishment for fraud, much less recovery of stolen funds, is a rare occurrence. Prevention is the best form of protection. Drawn from his early years of experience as an ingenious con artist (whose check scams alone mounted to more than two million dollars in stolen funds) and his 25-year career on the other side of the law, The Art of the Steal provides eye-opening stories of true scams, with tips on how they could have been avoided.

©2001 Frank Abagnale, Jr. (P)2001 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A useful work on business and personal privacy." (Library Journal)
"Captivating and useful." (Amazon.com)

A very interesting book!

Overall, a very interesting book. The author spends the majority of the time identifying various 'tricks' used to defraud companies and individuals of money. The categories include: checks, credit cards, the Internet, counterfeit money, etc.

Many times throughout the book the author presents situations which seem innocuous until you hear the ways very clever thieves can take avantage of them.

At times there are arguments which lack backup, particularly those regarding the Internet. I had trouble determining if the author skipped the technicals of his arguments or if they were simply based on the merits of "back in my day we didn't need fancy communications networks". In either event, this was a great book.

Really fun nonfiction.

I read this book after seeing the movie ("Catch me if you can") and the book was really enjoyable. It was a fascinating story, well written, and just a lot of fun to read.

Greed Is Good

I thought this was a lot of fun. Crooks are out there - and this "tricks of the trade" guide, disguised as a "protect your company" manual - was good listening.

Very educational and entertaining

Extremely educational and interesting book. A must-read for anyone interested or concerned about identity theft, fraud, counterfeiting, etc.

Get streetwise - listen to this book!

An amazing book which describes just about every possible way fraudsters can rip you off. I leant a hell of a lot in listening to this book and made several changes in my life as a result of reading the book that will minimize me falling susceptible to rip-off artists, which in this day and age most of us can encounter multiple times on a daily basis without even knowing it.

Not hearing this will cost you money.

The title of this review may be over the top, but it's how I feel. It's like going backstage behind a magic show, but this book is backstage to many forms of con games and other swindles. Forewarned is forearmed. I highly recommend it.
You have been warned.

The Art of the Steal

Wonderful listen. Very, Very, Informative and entertaining. I fell a lot more informed as a consumer after this book.

Riviting

eyes wide open about fraud, color me rivotted the whole way through the book. highly recommended.

Great Book - Entertaining Listen

I got this for 4.95, lol. Saw the movie about this guy, sounded interesting, was very pleased.

Is there a lot about net security, no, so don't listen if you are expecting the definitive narrative on internet security. But to be fair to the work, what you get is a look into the predatory nature of a master criminal, and just how scarily easy everyone makes it for them to steal. Scam after scam after scam revealed in shocking simplicity.

Are some of the stories outdated yes, to say they are not worth hearing is like saying I don't go to museums because the paintings are all old.

Is it very centered on check security, sure, that's what he did, and did better than anyone, but the point he is trying to make is that checks are not going away, with just a fragment of information you can lose anything to a person who knows how. He also goes into credit card, debit card, phone scams, and a ton of ways that a simple piece of paper, even a deposity slip can cost you everything.

And he does say a lot about internet fraud protection, all that needs to be said, which is to be secure, don't enter you information on the internet. Sometimes I don't know why people are so harsh. If you buy a cook book, and it says how to cook food, and you want a book that has Italian recipes, you cant slam it for not having enough Italian recipes. Get an Italian cook book.

This is a fascinating read. It will scare you and amaze you at the clever ways criminal meticulously work at ways to take our money. The great lengths they will go to to bust the most complex countermeasures, but also how insanely simple it is, and how completely senseless and open to these schemes even educated people can be.

I LOVED IT!

And come on guy, 5 bucks, even if you don't find it entertaining, and you got just one tip from it, you spent more than that on your lunch. Geeeez

How we create crooks

What did you love best about The Art of the Steal?

made me think about how m uch I trust others

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

too soon

Which character – as performed by Barrett Whitener – was your favorite?

there where no characters (non fiction)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

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Any additional comments?

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