Walnut Creek speaker: Education ‘most powerful’ crime fighting tool

Caroline Donahoe l Contra Costa Youth Journalism Frank Abagnale a former con artist who became a famous and respected fraud detection cybersecurity consultant returned in recent weeks to the Newsmakers Lesher Speaker Series and spent much of the evening educating the eager crowd with his in-depth knowledge about cybercrime forgery and scams Abagnale described the audience Sept at the Lesher Center for the Arts Hofmann Theatre in Walnut Creek that his goal was to inform the constituents as he asserts that prevention verification and development are the best tactics to protect privacy and avoid being a victim of cyberfraud Training is the the bulk powerful tool to fighting crime Abagnale commented absolutely If I can explain to you how the scam works and you understand the scam then you will not fall victim to that scam As part of the th anniversary of the Newsmakers Lesher Speaker Series a local nonprofit is featured at each event For Abagnale s appearance the focus was Contra Costa Senior Legal Services which has been providing free legal services to seniors and helping protect elders rights since Since being distributed from prison four decades ago Abagnale has lectured at FBI field offices and the FBI Academy about fraud and cybercrime He has also worked with more than financial institutions corporations and law enforcement agencies about using his fraud-prevention programs Based on his wealth of experience Abagnale began his speech with a general observation The world is changing all the time and hardware is getting better he stated Mechanism breeds crime It inevitably has and unfailingly will And there will dependably be people who are willing to use machinery in a negative self-serving way Abagnale declared he has unveiled that the only truly effective way to avoid becoming a cybercrime victim is prevention He revealed preponderance cyberattacks take about days to even trace and less than of cyberattacks ever get prosecuted Because the odds of recovering assets are so slim he believes that efforts to avoid being a victim in the first place are crucial especially since the consequences of cybercrime are so devastating All the money that goes out billions and billions of dollars for all of these scams cybercrimes identity thefts fraud embezzlement all of that money boomerangs back into our society Abagnale announced But it comes back to us in the form of narcotics weapons terrorism human trafficking and child pornography If we could put a small dent in that number we d save a lot of human misery along the way Abagnale provided a couple of alarming truths regarding identity theft in latest years He noted that every two seconds someone s identity is taken and misused He reported in alone billion identity records were compromised and that this day more than billion identity records are available on the dark web Alarmingly he warned that in the current era no better identity theft victim exists than a child Abagnale proposed that society necessities to work harder to build reliable safety into modern device As I remind people all the time there is no foolproof system Abagnale commented If you believe you have a foolproof system you have failed to take into consideration the creativity of fools Abagnale s ability to incorporate humorous twists while conveying serious knowledge was noteworthy as he was able to keep the audience intrigued and establish himself as a credible source of information One takeaway point he craved everyone to be aware of is the importance of credit Everything in current times is based on your credit Abagnale explained You apply for a job they check your credit You apply for auto insurance they check your credit You apply for life insurance they check your credit So teaching young people the importance of maintaining and having good credit is very very pivotal He also stated that when it comes to scams every scam has a red flag and there are two main ones First he advised that people need to be cautious if they are informed to hand over money directly Second he claimed that the best con men will wait for you to open the door making it the easiest job in the world for them to take advantage of a situation Toward the event s end he reflected on his life with moderator Steve Lesher the Lesher Foundation s board president and executive producer of the series The two discussed the various twists and turns of Abagnale s life which saw him turn to crime at age impersonating an airline pilot and cashing bad checks worldwide before spending time in prison in three different countries A partly fictionalized autobiography of his life was published in and inspired the movie Catch Me if You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent chasing him Abagnale shared his story meeting the two stars and the film s director Steven Spielberg and living with DiCaprio for three days as the actor prepared for the role Abagnale reported his actions as a teenager negatively affected him for years even after he turned his life around and his story became well-known Notoriety is one of the worst curses that can be put on an individual Abagnale explained When Lesher sought Abagnale what advice he d give to his younger self based on his complex and fascinating past experiences he offered a couple of simple reminders They tell you that life is short but the reality is that life is very long Abagnale remarked Just think before you act Redemption is very hard to achieve and people don t forget mistakes Contra Costa Youth Journalism is a collaborative effort involving educational institutions and professional news organizations dedicated to expanding opportunities for Contra Costa County high school students to inform Contra Costa County residents about relevant local news