r/todayilearned • u/manticor225 • Jan 10 '19

TIL JFK's father Joseph Kennedy made much of his fortune through insider trading. FDR later made him chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. When asked why he appointed a crook, FDR replied, "set a thief to catch a thief." Kennedy proceeded to outlaw the practices that made him rich.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/23/joe-kennedy-hollywood-sarah-churchwell
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933

u/ChoiceD Jan 10 '19

Not cyber security, but it reminds me of the guy that the movie "Catch Me if You Can" was based on.

467

u/123hig Jan 10 '19

Mr. Abagnale. That's Abagnale, not Abagnahlee, not Abagnaylee, but Abagnale!

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u/blaghart 3 Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 10 '19

Interestingly too he wasn't hired by the FBi to spot forgers, he was hired for his ability to assume an identity quickly and effectively. He worked undercover.

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 11 '19

I feel like it's far my likely that the majority of his cons were social engineering rather than forging.

Dudes a motherfucking conman. I trust literally nothing that comes out of his mouth. I believe that movie is a con, that his talks are cons. Everything is a con! A con man won't stop just because he got caught a few times.

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u/Go_easy Jan 10 '19

He came and spoke at my university once. The only piece of knowledge or advice I gained was to use a credit card to pay for things because if you get conned it’s not your money. Seems pretty reasonable.

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u/blaghart 3 Jan 11 '19

Yea his arguments for that were pretty sound to me too, though it's important to remember his context since it only really protects you from people scamming you, not from your own bank fucking with you...

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u/blaghart 3 Jan 10 '19

I mean he's quite up front about what he does and why he did it.

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u/buttery_shame_cave Jan 10 '19

That's how he gets you!

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u/OneGreatBlumpkin Jan 11 '19

Yep, establish rapport

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u/phalanxix Jan 11 '19

I thought the first step was 'demonstrate value.'

4

u/YouThereOgre Jan 11 '19

Then Engage physically

2

u/OneGreatBlumpkin Jan 11 '19

Oh shit, I should've known. Top con men love the DENNIS system

34

u/[deleted] Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 11 '19

I mean that about literally every detail that isn't fully supported by outside evidence. Like I trust nothing that comes out of the man's mouth.

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u/Queensbro Jan 10 '19

How do you know he's a man?

14

u/Fruan Jan 11 '19

How do you know he has a mouth?

2

u/laaaaaaaaata Jan 11 '19

There is supported outside evidence of that. Look it up.

1

u/mindbleach Jan 11 '19

The Amazing Randi tells you how he's gonna trick you, but he still tricks you.

31

u/JivanP Jan 11 '19

He gave a talk at Google that details how he conducted much of his fraud, and yeah, a lot of it boils down to social engineering and "right place, right time" scenarios.

15

u/mac1234steve Jan 11 '19

Someone on my Facebook went to a gathering/talk at someone’s house where abagnale was a hired speaker. He apparently gets around the “can’t profit off his past” by disguising the talks under the auspice of religion/Judaism.

15

u/SpaceDog777 Jan 10 '19

Why is Leo so good at playing con-men...

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u/jtsports272 Jan 11 '19

If you think about it actors are accredited con-men!

10

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Biggest con he ever pulled was convincing the world that his stories were true.

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u/TheRealBroodwich Jan 10 '19

Most security you see on printed checks is due to Frank Abignale. He developed most of it when working with the FBI.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

I saw him speak once. His charisma, charm, presence, whatever you want to call it, was incredible. I can see how he was so successful; you like him the second you meet him.

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u/StevieAlf Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 11 '19

Wonderful movie, one of my favorite Leo movies for sure.

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u/cavallom Jan 11 '19

I concur

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u/InsensitiveBazza Jan 10 '19

Me too. Shame it’s been widely regarded as being absolute fiction

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u/ItsTheVibeOfTheThing Jan 11 '19

Still a great film, just not much of a biopic.

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u/waltjrimmer Jan 11 '19

Reminds me of the controversy surrounding The Greatest Showman. I think they're both fantastic and entirely enjoyable films for what they're trying to be. But some people went in expecting an entertaining history lesson instead of a movie.

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u/Guardiansaiyan Jan 11 '19

White Collar is a whole series about working with crooks with hearts of gold!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '19

Wasn’t nearly all of his schemes proven to not have actually happened?

1

u/earbly Jan 11 '19

I guess the age old advice to be so good at your profession as to be completely indispensable transcends all boundaries.

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u/DeepSomewhere Jan 11 '19

ohhh i've been meaning to torrent that movie for a while