Art of the Steal by Frank W. Abagnale

Author:Frank W. Abagnale [Abagnale, Frank W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Business, Psychology, Biography
ISBN: 9780767910910
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 7654367
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2002-01-29T08:00:00+00:00

6

[CARD GAMES]

Outside Miami International Airport, a new rental car franchise opened up a few years ago, begun by several enterprising young men. It was billed as one of those Rent-A-Wreck places that rented less-than-perfect cars at lower rates than the major chains like Hertz and Avis. The deal here was an awfully tantalizing one: a wreck for ten dollars a day, and no mileage charge. People arriving on flights took a look and thought it was a terrific price. The cars moved briskly.

In subsequent weeks, a spate of fraudulent credit card transactions were confounding law enforcement agents and credit card companies. They were on all sorts of cards and dispersed around the country in almost haphazard fashion. The authorities looked in vain for some sort of pattern, some fragile thread that might connect them. One finally emerged. It turned out that every card that had been used in the fraudulent purchases had also been used legitimately by the cardholder at the new Rent-A-Wreck at the Miami airport.

A little more investigation broke the case open. It seems that the young men weren’t really interested in making a living renting cars at extraordinarily low prices. That was simply their cover. Their true business was recording the credit card numbers of everyone who came through and selling them to a ring of credit card thieves. The thieves then used them to make the illegal transactions.

In the world of fraud, it helps to remember that things are never what they seem. In fact, they are often the opposite of what they seem. I’m reminded of that little demonstration in the David Mamet con artist movie, “House of Games.” Two men, one a soldier, are waiting at a Western Union office for money that’s supposed to be wired to them. They don’t know each other. The other man tells the soldier he sure hopes his money comes, and the soldier says the same thing. You know, the man says, if my money comes in first, I’ll give you some of it, because I know you’ll pay it back and I know you’d do the same for me. The soldier is warmed by this generosity. But of course no money is being wired to the man. He’s the scam artist. When the soldier’s money comes, he offers to give some to the other man and he’ll never see it again. At the Miami Airport, people thought they were renting a car and they were actually donating their credit cards to thieves. It could be happening anytime you use your credit card, if you don’t know who you’re dealing with.

CUT THE CARDS

We all understand “sticker shock,” that numb feeling you get when you go shopping for a new car. Well, now there’s “statement shock.” That’s when your credit card has not left your wallet for weeks but you receive your monthly bill and it looks like you spent the entire month shopping on Rodeo Drive. Most likely, you’re a victim of counterfeiters helping themselves to your credit. As I pointed out earlier in the chapter on checks, check fraud far outstrips credit card fraud.

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