Frank W. Abagnale is one of the world’s most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement and secure documents. For over 40 years he has worked with, advised and consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world.
Mr. Abagnale’s rare blend of knowledge and expertise began more than 45 years ago when he was known as one of the world’s most famous confidence men. This was depicted most graphically in his best-selling book, Catch Me If You Can, a film of which was also made, directed by Steven Spielberg with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. A Broadway musical of the same title was also created and in April 2011 opened on Broadway and won a Tony Award.
While at the most recent BAM ALLIANCE National Conference, JDH Wealth Management had the opportunity to hear Frank speak. He shared his amazing life story as well as a few tips on combating fraud…
SHRED EVERYTHING: Anything that has personal information should be shredded. Use a micro-cut shredder for sensitive documents. It takes only about an hour to reassemble documents from regular shredders. Documents from cross shredders can be put back together in about 10 hours. But documents from micro-shredders are virtually impossible to put back together.
DON’T PLUG IN AN UNKNOWN FLASH DRIVE: If you find a flash drive hanging around and you don’t know where it came from, don’t plug it into a computer. Abagnale gives speeches to companies all the time, and he likes to drop flash drives in the parking lot with a label that says, “Confidential.” Someone always plugs it in. The flash drive could have a virus in it that enables someone to steal information and commit fraud.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SHARE ON FACEBOOK: If a hacker gets onto your Facebook profile, they can get a lot of information. Make it a little more difficult by not giving them your birthday, where you live, and other sensitive information.
USE A CREDIT MONITORING SERVICE: Sign up for a credit monitoring service that tracks all three credit bureaus and notifies you in real time.
At JDH, security of our clients’ information is a high priority. We do many things to ensure that your information is safe with us. We also help educate our clients on things that they can be doing to protect themselves at home.