 Frank
W. Abagnale, one of the world’s most respected authorities on
the subjects of forgery, embezzlement, and secure documents,
has signed with Broadway Books, an imprint of the Doubleday
Broadway Publishing Group division of Random House, Inc., to
write the definitive book on how consumers can protect
themselves against the growing crime of identity theft.
Charlie Conrad, Executive Editor for Broadway Books, acquired
world, first serial, and audio rights from Andrew Blauner of
Blauner Books Literary Agency, who represented Mr. Abagnale in
negotiations.
One of the most daring con men, forgers, imposters, and
escape artists in history, Mr. Abagnale enjoyed a brief but
notorious criminal career during which he assumed various
identities -- including those of airline pilot, stockbroker,
and doctor -- in order to pass off approximately $2.5 million
in phony checks before he reached the age of twenty-one. Mr.
Abagnale’s youthful exploits were chronicled by director
Steven Spielberg in the December 2002 DreamWorks motion
picture “Catch Me If You Can,” starring Tom Hanks, Christopher
Walken, and Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the role of Mr.
Abagnale. The movie was based on Mr. Abagnale’s bestselling
autobiography of the same name, originally published in 1980
and reissued by Broadway Books in 2000 as a trade paperback.
The Broadway trade paperback editions of that book have more
than 530,000 copies in print after 19 printings. In 2001,
Broadway Books published Mr. Abagnale’s second book, The
Art of the Steal, which currently has more than 90,000
copies in print.
To be titled Stealing Your Life, Mr. Abagnale’s new
book will offer an in-depth portrayal of the threat that
identity theft represents to individuals (in 2004, it claimed
more than 10 million victims, with losses exceeding $54
billion) as well as a complete guide to how individuals can
protect themselves from this insidious crime. Drawing on true
stories from his experience as a consultant to the FBI and to
banks and corporations that have been affected by, and are
working to combat, identity theft, Mr. Abagnale will vividly
chronicle how identity theft has been fostered by the
proliferation of sophisticated digital technology and why it
has become a crime so versatile that literally everyone is a
potential victim.
Among the practical issues Abagnale will cover are
strategies that work against identity theft, where to get
checks and credit cards, what consumers should ask of their
bank, how to monitor credit, how to safeguard one’s Social
Security number, and many other techniques indispensable to
protecting identity. The book will also include easy-to-use
identity theft checklists, updated for the latest cons that
consumers can use to gauge their personal immunity level, as
well as what software consumers need to do to protect their
identities online. Infused with real-life examples of identity
thefts that have not been previously reported, Stealing
Your Life will also analyze some of the major identity
theft crimes that have made headlines, explaining how they
really happened, who was at fault, and how the crimes could
have been averted. The book will be published in 2007.
Frank Abagnale has lectured to and consulted with hundreds
of financial institutions, corporations, and government
agencies around the world. He has been associated with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation for more than 30 years and
lectures extensively at the FBI Academy and for field offices
of the FBI. More than 14,000 financial institutions,
corporations, and law enforcement agencies use his fraud
prevention programs.
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For more information, please contact David Drake at
Broadway Books at 212-782-9001 or ddrake@randomhouse.com. |
