"I believe that we haven't even scratched the surface of identity theft. It absolutely has to be the simplest crime that's come along, and certainly could be the most profitable."

As a teenager, Frank Abagnale posed as an airline pilot, a physician and a professor...and along the way cashed millions of dollars worth of fraudulent checks. Catch Me If You Can-the best selling autobiography that chronicles his escapades-captured the attention of Steven Spielberg, who will release the film version of Abagnale's life this holiday season (Leonardo di Caprio plays Abagnale, opposite Tom Hanks as the FBI agent who's hot on his trail). In a recent interview with GlobalPOV, Mr. Abagnale examines the nature of the identity theft problem, which is a focal point of his latest book, The Art of the Steal.

GlobalPOV: Why does Identity Theft concern you so much?
FA: I believe that we haven't even scratched the surface of the problem. It absolutely has to be the simplest crime that's come along, and certainly could be the most profitable. Last year we had about a million Americans who were victims of identity theft - and those are just the ones we know of who reported it; we don't know how many were victims that didn't report it.

It cost the banks and the credit card companies about $5 billion last year, and the average victim spent about $1,750 dollars correcting their credit, and it took them about 175 man hours to get their credit worked out.

GlobalPOV: What makes you say it's the 'simplest crime that's come along'?
FA: There are so many opportunities to commit identity theft every minute of every day. If you walk into a department store like Nordstrom's today … and you buy a sweater and write a check for the sweater - on that check is your name and address, the name of your bank and its address, and your account number. That's basically all of the wiring instructions to wire money from an account. Everything is right there already without anything else being put on the check.

Then the store says to you that they need to see a driver's license. In 19 states, your driver's license number is your social security number. They're writing down your social security number on your check, and your birth date. The last question they'll ask you is your work number. All of that personal information, and you have to think about how many people will see that check and handle that check. Not only all of the people at the local store level, but then the clearing house people, then the bank people where the check is processed. And because most people now don't get their check back due to truncation, that check ends up somewhere to be destroyed - so you don't know how many of those people see all that information. But there's certainly enough information you just gave to apply for credit in someone's name.

GlobalPOV: In the intro to The Art of the Steal, you paint a pretty grim picture about a woman who's just realized that her identity has been stolen...
FA: And that's really where the nightmare begins for the victims, because it's not as simple as just saying "that wasn't me." You have to prove that wasn't you. You have to convince the credit card company. Once you convince the credit card companies, you have to convince all three credit bureaus. In most cases, they refuse to delete it off your credit files, so instead they put an asterik and say "customer disputes this Visa charge, claims they were a victim of identity theft." So anybody giving you credit then questions whether you were really a victim or if you were just ripping somebody off.

And a fraudulent account might very well be the least of your troubles. I interviewed one woman whose identity was stolen by someone who got arrested a few times. When this lady turned around to get a job, the guy said you've got two arrests in California. But I've never even been to California, she said. But she got stuck trying to prove that it wasn't her that got arrested ... and that's not an uncommon scenario.

GlobalPOV: Is access to information the heart of the identity theft problem?
FA: Absolutely. Today there are so many ways to get information. Even if you go to the doctor's office...and if you haven't been a patient there before they make a copy of your driver's license. The information we give away today is amazing...and that's why anyone can become anybody overnight.

10 years ago, the only time you could get credit was when you literally signed a form and said you wanted it. But today, landlords, insurance companies - anybody can just come up with an excuse to run your credit - and then they've got your entire credit file.

GlobalPOV: According to your book, you also think social security numbers are a big part of the problem, right?
FA: I'm 54. When I was 20 or 21, only 3 people knew your social security number - you, the government, and the guy that employed you, and that was it. We've turned around and used this number as an identification number - and anyone in the world can get that number - but yet that number is still the number that accesses everything that you want to find out. We give away so much information now, that criminals are realizing the potential.

We need to start correcting this social security fiasco so that this number is not out there. There's a bill in congress: HR91. That bill would make it a federal offense for anyone to sell social security numbers on the Internet or provide anyone's social security numbers. But that bill has been sitting there for three years, because you have all these companies that lobby against it because that's how they track people and market to people.

GlobalPOV: Is it easier to steal someone's identity today than it was when you were involved in fraudulent activities?
FA: In my old days, when I was a criminal and wanted to establish my identity (so that I could open an account and pass bad checks), I would simply go down to the department of vital records (in any city I was in). I'd walk in and ask to see the death records for the year of 1948, because that's when I was born. Every fifth or sixth entry was an infant who'd died at birth. I would write that down on a piece of paper. Then I would use that information to apply for a birth certificate. I'd fill it out, pay $10 and take it down to the DMV. I'd have 50 driver's license legitimately issued by the state, that had my picture, my description, and somebody else's name.

30 years later, the only thing that's changed in that picture is that today you can just buy a CD Rom with all the birth and death certificates. And then we wonder why people can become somebody else.

The more and more it goes on, the more people come up with creative ideas. And what's real scary about that is not just the criminal who does this for profit, but also terrorists who can come here illegally and assume someone else's identity - it's so simple to do.

GlobalPOV: Is identity theft going to get more prevalent?
FA: This is a crime that's only going to get worse, because it's a faceless crime.

When you compare it to check forgery, which is $19 billion, it's a small crime. But it's exceeded credit card fraud in the U.S. already. Word of mouth as a criminal is going to drive this - people are realizing how simple it is to do. What I've seen happen in my few years of following this closely, it used to be that your ID was stolen for one reason: to get a credit card number in your name, so that I could then charge these things and then throw the card away. But then the criminal said wait a minute, I can get a credit card in their name, why can't I get an auto loan? And if I can get an auto loan in their name, why can't I get a mortgage in their name? And if I can get a mortgage in their name, why can't I do contract labor in someone else's name so when tax time comes, they have to pay my taxes?

I think there's a lot of good stuff, even when you get down to the retina scans and eye scans. The problem you have is society, who is totally against that. You're not going to get the general public to let you scan their eye retina. You're not going to get them to let you scan their fingerprint. Just like they're against national id cards - it'll never happen, because there are too many people concerned with rights to privacy.

Mr. Abagnale's latest book, The Art of the Steal, can be purchased at Amazon.com

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