I made aright hand turn and they raced ahead of me, said “You hit me!
And I have awife and two kids in the car.”
And they jumped out and then there’sanother guy in there with tattoos.
[00:00:19] She was outalone, by the way, Will.
[00:00:20] I was alone.
[00:00:22] HOST: Notall scam artists come in the form on anonymous calls or mysterious emails.
Somescammers operate in broad daylight.
[00:00:54] FrankAbagnale: Great to be with you, Will.
I should just callthis part of the show, Ask Frank Questions.
You spent liked 16 to 21, life ofcrime, if I can call it that.
[00:01:15] FrankAbagnale: Frank Abagnale: 41.
[00:01:15] HOST: 41years.
Will you tell me a little bit about that?"
And I’m going, totalk about what?
Well he’d like you talk a little bit about your life.
And Isaid, “Well what’s, what’s involved with that?”
And I said, I just said you know,“I’m out there all the time.
Can I come by for an interview when I’m outthere?”
Said, of course.
I went out and did the interview, and theyinvited me on the show.
Well after that, theygot like 300 calls asking where can I buy this book?
Only the switchboard atNBC saying there is no book, he was just talking about his life.
So, he was one of the first people actually to get to see the movie.
[00:04:20] FrankAbagnale: Yeah, and I was kind of the opposite.
On today’s episode,meet George and his wife, Sandra.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:05:24] HOST: Hi,George.
This is Will at AARP, Will Johnson, how are you?
[00:05:28] George: Ohfine, for a 92-year-old war veteran from World War II.
We’re doing well.
[00:05:33] HOST:That’s, you sound great for a 92-year-old war veteran.
[00:05:36] HOST: Georgeand Sandra are both retired.
Not content sitting at home, they volunteertogether at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
[00:05:43] HOST: Andhow long have you two been married?
[00:05:44] Sandra: Fouryears.
[00:05:47] HOST:Congratulations.
[00:05:47] George:We’re the widow and widower.
[00:05:48] HOST:That’s, well congratulations.
And George, you’re 92, Sandra like25?
[00:05:53] Sandra:(laugh) No, I’m 79.
[00:06:19] Sandra: Hesaid, “You hit me!
And I have a witness.”
[00:06:43] George: Itcertainly looked like that.
[00:06:45] Sandra:Yeah, actually said to them, this is a scam.
[00:07:13] HOST: Andlet me get this straight.
So you drove to the police station.
So that soundsvery scary and also very smart of you, just to do exactly what you did.
[00:07:20] George:Exactly.
[00:07:21] HOST: Andthen, but they didn’t go all the way to the police station.
He, he followed me, and then about halfwaydown he suddenly wasn’t there anymore.
[00:07:33] HOST: Oh, sohe knew.
And I said to George, put your finger on that,I bet it wipes right off.
Of course it did.
But he had a beard, the same similar throw in as the first man.
[00:08:14] HOST: Wellbeards are all the rage these days.
So…
[00:08:16] George: Ohyeah.
But here’s where the credit goes to Sandra.
It wasn’t thefirst time this had happened to her.
And the first time, years earlier wasn’tso smooth.
[00:08:53] George: Outalone by the way, Will.
[00:08:55] Sandra: Iwas alone.
And his car was blue.
So I was so new at allthis, I was all ready to make them out a check.
Go ahead, honey, I’m sorry to interrupt.
[00:09:39] HOST: Butso, let me back up.
[00:09:58] Sandra:Yeah.
[00:09:59] George: Theywere intimidating her.
[00:10:01] HOST: Theygot in your car.
[00:10:02] Sandra:Yeah.
[00:10:09] HOST: Andthen you got money out, you paid them money.
Do you remember how much theyasked for?
[00:10:19] HOST: Oh, sothey, so you never, so great.
[00:10:35] George: Deja vu, deja vu.
[00:10:37] Sandra:That’s exactly it, it was the same tone of voice.
I would just hit me.
[00:10:59] HOST: Yeah.Absolutely.
This isone that’s in person and could have dangerous consequences.
[00:11:12] George: Verydangerous.
[00:11:14] HOST: I’mglad you’re, I’m glad you’re both okay.
[00:11:35] HOST: AndI’m back with the AARP Fraud Watch data pipe Ambassador, Frank Abagnale.
Frank,this is kind of a scary story.
But it’s dangerous because these are criminals in person.
We talk a lotabout internet and email and phone fraud.
[00:11:57] FrankAbagnale: Well these scams are all based on simply intimidation.
But all three of them were probably involved inthat, that scam.
You know, they’re all based, these types of scams and theycome in different, different varieties.
It cost me $20 andyou…"
[00:12:50] HOST: It’sall your fault?
I said you’re just trying to scam out of $20 and that’s an oldscam."
I said, “I’m not falling for it,” and I just keptwalking.
[00:13:06] HOST: Youcan’t fool Frank, people, alright?
[00:13:07] FrankAbagnale: I just kept walking.
But I mean, that’s how they work.
Getting in the car with you is part of the intimidation.
Nowthe whole thing is based on you’re going to give them some money cause you’reintimidated by them.
[00:13:26] HOST: Andintimidation is used obviously online and over the phone as well.
[00:13:30] FrankAbagnale: Exactly.
They, they told the, the person who wasdoing this to them, they were doing that.
Was that a good idea or…
[00:14:08] FrankAbagnale: I thought it was a great idea.
Theyweren’t about to go to the police station with them.
I mean George thought maybe because they had the handicaplicense plate.
[00:14:31] FrankAbagnale: Right, and, and they’re very easy to intimidate.
He, I’m sure they looked at thismight be someone easier to intimidate and obviously they were not.
[00:14:47] HOST: Thiskind of gets into this whole real-world scams.
I don’t what like you know biblical scams were.
Or were you doing something that simply seemed like, hey I cando this.
I’m getting away with it a little bit.
In other words, whatever they say to me, I’ll come up with some answerfor that.
It’s not worth trying to figure out what’s going on.
It wasn’t, it wasn’t that.
And it wasn’tthat I walked out and felt some satisfaction that I, I took that person.
There’s a little suspicion that you’renot."
And I said, “Well I don’t know, well here’s my ID card.
[00:19:39] HOST: Butyou had done your research on it.
Now thisis back when you could do vagrancy even though I had money in my pocket and allthat.
What did you do?”
[00:20:28] HOST: Sothis just came out.
[00:20:29] FrankAbagnale: Yeah, just out, so court tomorrow.
[00:20:31] HOST: Yeah.
I do have a checkbook, but theyhave it downstairs."
“Well, I’ll take a check from you.”
So Iwent down, I wrote him a check, and I got out of jail.
He wrote them a check.
And they said, good for thebail bondsman, he’ll learn a lesson.
[00:21:10] HOST: He didyou a real favor by getting you out of the Charles Street Jail.
[00:21:25] FrankAbagnale: You know, that’s the other thing.
[00:22:05] HOST: Whichyou probably didn’t want to do, right?
[00:22:35] FrankAbagnale: … when I want to cash a check, instant credibility.
I just walked up to the teller, oh sure, you have yourcompany ID?
Yeah, no problem, we’ll cash a check for you.
And, and I couldntbelieve that they were really just seeing the uniform.
I had, I was totallyirrelevant.
[00:23:24] FrankAbagnale: Right.
From the moment he wokeup, he was onstage till he went to sleep."
And you know, you didn’t thinkof it back then, but he was, he was right.
You could have been in Hollywood.
You have toplay the role the entire time.
So, I wrote just in the box,doctor.
“What punch in ofdoctor are you?”
I left my practice in Los Angeles to come to Atlanta to invest in somereal estate holdings I have.
I won’t be practicing for a while."
“Oh,how interesting.
Well, what key in of medical doctor are you?”
And then Ifigured being a singles' complex, I’d say pediatrician, cause there were nokids.
So I said I was a pediatrician.
[00:25:28] HOST: That’sa great idea.
[00:25:28] FrankAbagnale: So, I moved in as Dr. Frank Williams, pediatrician.
Now everyone Imet just thought I was a pedia–, a pediatrician.
So he comes up to introduce himself and I getto know him.
He takes me up to the hospital where he works.
A doctor’s had adeath in his family, he’s returning home.
And I thought…
[00:26:08] HOST:Perfect, sure, why not?
It wasn’t that you planned them and you did them.
They’re allthings I fell into that and, and that was the opportunist in me.
They were justopportunities that I saw and took, took advantage of.
I did hit him and that’s howmuch it cost to fix.
That’s all a part of the scam.
Sothanks, as always for joining us.
[00:27:36] FrankAbagnale: Thanks Will, and great being with you.
But these two arent gullible.
TIPS: Intimidation and urgency are red flags that someone is trying to scam you.
Go to the police station or call the police if you feel unsafe.
If you are in an accident have an impartial professional assess the damage.
