I have to be honest with you: When the FBI let me out of prison early to advise the agency on preventing fraud, I wasn't a changed person. I wasn't rehabilitated. But when I started working with the FBI, one of the most ethical groups of men and women in the world, I couldn't help but have some of that character rub off on me.
I spent five years of my youth in prison - some very bad prisons.
You have to think a little smarter, be proactive, not reactive.
My proudest moment was probably when my oldest boy finished law school and went on to become an FBI agent. It was just beyond my imagination that - with my background - my own son would become an FBI agent.
Most people don't reconcile their bank accounts.
Most people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but when I look back at my life, I don't think very much about those years. I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.
I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.
I served my time and came out of prison when I was just 26 and have worked with the government for 37 years. But people only remember me for what I did before that.
I owe a debt to my country 800 times greater than I could ever repay.
I use a shredder for bank statements and phone bills. Most people use ribbon shredders that cut things straight: we can put those back together in an hour. Look for a security microcut shredder, which cuts papers into confetti.
I went from 198 pounds to 109 while I was in prison in France, and I had to tie my clothes on with rope.
I don't use a debit card. The safest thing is a credit card because you're using the bank's money. If someone accesses your information, they are stealing the bank's money, not yours.
Too many of us are vulnerable, and I look forward to working with AARP to advise people about the safest ways to conduct their financial transactions and manage social media.
One thing I've found is that if you educate and show people the risk, they will do something about it.
I have never witnessed, nor will I live long enough to witness, a more simplistic crime than me stealing your identity.
The law sometimes sleeps; it never dies.
I taught at the FBI for four decades - how to think outside of the box and deal with social engineering.
There is no technology today that cannot be defeated by social engineering.
I always knew I'd get caught sooner or later. And I knew I would end up going to prison.
I was very blessed it was Steven Spielberg who made the movie. He was very much into the redemption side of the story. They asked him in an interview why he had owned the rights to this story for 20 years before he made the movie, and he said, 'I wanted to see what the real Frank Abagnale did with his life before I immortalised him on film.'