CHAPTER

10
Teenage Con Man

1 TOPIC PREVIEW
A People do not write checks as much now as they used to. Put a check (/")
next to the ways people usually use checks today. Share your answers with
your classmates.
1 __ to pay people who work for you
2 __ to pay your telephone bill
3 __ to buy things in stores
4 __ to get money from the bank
5 ���������-(your idea)

8 Read the title of this chapter, look at the picture, and discuss the
following questions.
1 A con man is someone who tricks people and steals their money. How
can someone do that?
2 How do people who work in banks know that a check is real? How can
people who work in stores or hotels be sure that a check is good?
3 What do you think the reading is going to be about?

74 Unit 4 Criminal Justice

2 VOCABULARY PREVIEW
A Read the word lists. Put a check(.!') next to the words that you know and can
use in a sentence. Compare your answers with a partner. Then look up any
unfamiliar words in a dictionary.
Criminal Justice Academic Word List Banking
criminal (n.)
forge (bank) account
expert
fraud cash (a check) (v.)
identity
prison charge (v.)
obviously
deposit (a check) (v.)
(go on) trial

The chart shows selected words from the reading related to criminal justice, banking, and the
Academic Word List (AWL). For more information about the AWL, see page 121.

B Fill in the blanks with words from Part A.

1 She knows more than anyone else. She is a/an __________
2 They _________ ten dollars a day for parking.
3 He is always doing crazy things, but he always obeys the laws. He isn't
a/an ---------
4 When I get paid, I put the money in my bank _________

5 Who is he? I don't know his ---------

6 I -�------- money in the bank once a month.

7 He used a special printer to _________ dollar bills.

8 When people need money, they can go to the bank to
--------- a check.
9 The police arrested him. Three months later, he went on
---------- for the crime.
10 This is _________ not my handwriting. I don't know who
wrote this.

11 He stole money, so he went to --------- for five years.

12 She used a trick to get money from people. This is

Chapter 10 Teenage Con Mar 75

 � 3 READING
Preview the questions in Reading Check Part A on page 78. Then read the story.

Teenage Con Man

Leonardo DiCaprio (left) and Frank Abagnale 1

Frank Abagnale was leaving his hotel. He wore the uniform of an

airline pilot. He didn't have to pay for his room or his meals because
the hotel charged them all to the airline. At the front desk, he asked
the manager to cash a paycheck 2 for him. "Of course, sir!" The hotel
manager was happy to cash the airline's check.
2 A few weeks later, however, the hotel manager was not so happy.
Abagnale was not a pilot. He did not work for the airline. The paycheck
was not real. Frank Abagnale was a con man.
3 Abagnale started his career as a criminal in New York in the 1960s.
He was just a teenager, but he looked much older. He opened accounts
at different banks. Then he bought things in stores and paid for them
with checks from these accounts. The accounts didn't have enough
money in them to cover the checks, but the stores didn't know this. By
the time they realized it, Abagnale was using a different bank.
4 Abagnale was very smart. After a while, he taught himself to forge
checks. Then he deposited these fake checks. One day, he was filling

1 Leonardo DiCaprio played Frank Abagnale in the movie Catch Me if You Can.
2 paycheck: a check that a company gives to pay employees for their work

76 Unit 4 Criminal Justice

 out a deposit slip3 at a bank and he got a new idea. He took a few of the
deposit slips home. He typed his own account number on the forms.
· Then he took them back to the bank, and he put them with the other
deposit slips for customers to use. When customers used the deposit
slips, their money went into Abagnale's account.
Obviously, Abagnale had to move from city to city as banks s
discovered his tricks. When he was just 16, he created his identity as
an airline pilot. As a pilot, he didn't have to pay for air travel. He could
also stay at hotels where other pilots stayed without paying. He never
actually flew a plane, but he got on over 250 flights and stayed at
hotels all over the world at the airline's expense. He created false
paychecks and cashed them.
Sometimes Abagnale had to change identities so that the police 6
would not catch him. Once he pretended to be a doctor. He even
worked in a hospital in Atlanta. Another time, he pretended to have
a law degree from Harvard University. He got a job in a law office
in New Orleans, but one of the lawyers there - a real Harvard
graduate - started asking Abagnale a lot of questions. It was time
to be a pilot again!
By the time he was 21, Abagnale's face was on "Most Wanted" 1
posters in 26 different countries. Someone recognized him in France
4

and called the police. Abagnale spent six months in a French prison.
Then he went on trial in Sweden, where he spent another six months
in prison. At his trial in the United States, he got 12 years in prison.
However, Abagnale was a prisoner in the United States for only five
years. He got out of prison for good behavior, but he had trouble
finding a good job because of his criminal past. He finally went to a
bank and offered to teach the bank workers about different kinds
of fraud. He told them, "If you don't learn from me, you don't have to
pay me." Of course, they learned a lot from him, and Abagnale started
his new career as a fraud expert. After all, he knows both sides of
the business.

3 deposit slip: a small form you fill out when you put money in a bank
4 "Most Wanted" poster: a poster with pictures of important criminals. The poster
is put in public places, such as post offices.

Chapter 10 Teenage Con Man 77

4 READING CHECK
A Are these statements true or false? Write T (true) or F (false).
1 __ Frank Abagnale was an airline pilot.
2 __ Frank Abagnale was very smart but not honest.
3 __ Frank Abagnale never went to prison in the United States.

B Circle the letter of the best answer.

1 What was Abagnale's earliest crime?

a writing bad checks
b leaving a hotel without paying
c pretending to be an airline pilot
2 Abagnale stole money from other people when he __ .
a took their paychecks
b took money out of their bank accounts
c put his account number on deposit slips at the bank
3 When Abagnale pretended to be a pilot, he __ .
a flew planes 250 different times
b paid his hotel bills with fake money
c forged and cashed airline paychecks
4 Which of these statements is not true?
a The airline paid for Abagnale's hotels.
b Pilots didn't have to pay for their tickets.
c The airline paid Abagnale a lot of money.
5 What was a big advantage for Abagnale?
a He knew how to fly.
b His father was a banker.
c He looked older than his age.
6 Where did Abagnale pretend to be a doctor?
a New York b Atlanta c New Orleans
7 How much time did Abagnale actually spend in prison?
a 6 years b 12 years c 13 years
8 Bank managers now think of Abagnale as a __ .
a fraud expert b con man c pnsoner

78 Unit 4 Criminal Justice

5 VOCABULARY CHECK
A Retell the story. Fill in the blank� with the correct words from the box.

accounts cashed chc1rged criminal

deposit expert forge fraud
identity obviously prison trial

Frank Abagnale became a/ an _________ when he was just

a teenager. He opened _____2_____ at different banks. He wrote
checks even though he did not have money in those banks. He even put his
account number on the banks' slips. When bank
customers used the slips, their money went into Abagnale's accounts. He
also taught himself how to __________ checks. Soon the police
were looking for Abagnale, so he took on a new _________ as
an airline pilot. As a pilot, Abagnale _________ his hotel and
meal bills to the airlip.e. He also created and false
7
paychecks from the airline.

Finally, the police caught Abagnale. He spent time in

---------- in both Sweden and France. Then he went on

__________ in the United States. After five years in a U.S.
9
prison, Abagnale established a new and very successful career teaching
banks how to identify __________

----------
10 11
he knows a lot about it. This con man was a real
12

B Some words often appear together. Circle the words that often appear with the
words in bold.
1 to forge a bank a check a job

2 a bank account identity bill

3 to cash money a check a charge

4 to charge my hotel room cash a check

5 an expert business meal op1n1on

Chapter 10 Teenage Con Man 79

6 APPLYING READING SKILLS
Finding the main ideas and supporting details in a reading is an important
skill. Supporting details explain the main ideas more fully and will help you
have a better understanding of a reading.

A Write M next to the two sentences that are main ideas. Write S next to the
sentences that give supporting details. Match the S sentences to the M
sentences they support. All of the sentences are about Frank Abagnale.
1 __ He forged checks.
2 He used different identities.
3 __ He left deposit slips in the bank with his account number filled in.
4 __ He worked in a hospital.
5 __ He thought of different ways to make money illegally.
6 __ He pretended to be a pilot.

B Find two details from the text that support each main idea.
MAIN IDEA SUPPORTING DETAILS
1 Frank Abagnale spent
many years paying for his
life of crime. •
2 Frank Abagnale's last job
•
was the perfect job for him! •

7 DISCUSSION
Discuss the following questions in pairs or groups.
1 Abagnale wrote bad checks, put his account number on deposit slips in
banks, and created fake paychecks in the 1960s. Would it be possible to
do this now? Why or why not?
2 Imagine you are a bank manager. Would you ask Abagnale to train your
workers to find fraud? Why or why not?
3 Do you know of any other famous examples of fraud? Explain.

80 Unit 4 Criminal Justice