‘Catch Me If You Can’ conman Frank Abagnale warns we’ve all been hacked

WORRIED about your details being stolen? The conman who made a career out of identity theft and had a blockbuster movie made about it says it’s probably already happened.

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TAKE it from a guy who’s made a career out of it — we’ve all had our personal information stolen and now it’s easier than ever.

Frank Abagnale, the serial fraudster and conman whose career inspired the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, has offered a blunt take on one of the greatest fears of the western world.

He says almost all of us have had our personal details stolen by digital fraudsters, and believes most of us underestimate the scale of online swindling.

The 66-year-old consultant is famous for posing as a pilot, lawyer, doctor and teacher during a crime spree in the 1960s, where he dodged detectives for years before landing in prison. He has since used his experience to publish books on detecting fraud and assist the FBI.

His credibility is only heightened by having the honour of being played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Hollywood version of his life.

In an interview with The Times, he pointed out recent incidents in which personal details including the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of 80 million Americans were leaked from a major insurance firm, and others where hackers have sat on information for years before using it.

“You should know, whether you live in the US or in the UK, that your identity has already been stolen,” he said.

Mr Abagnale warned that companies had to stay ahead of hackers, but also warned information theft was often not caused by sophisticated hackers, but by employees failing to follow proper security precautions.

“You fight technology with technology so you have to stay one step ahead of the criminal. It’s very much a chess game — they make a move, you have to make a move,” he said.

“Every breach you look at occurred because somebody inside did something they weren’t supposed to do.

“Sometimes there’s an accomplice but most of the time it’s innocent.”

Mr Abagnale said security breaches often occurred when employees failed to follow procedures by downloading work files to a home computer, opening attachments on suspicious emails or inserting memory sticks into office terminals.

In the interview with The Times he went on to argue there had been so many incidents where personal details had been released that virtually anyone in a modern society should assume they have been compromised.

Recently, a case of “human error” saw the passport numbers and other personal details of world leaders attending the G20 conference, including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, released to organisers of the Asian Cup.