Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#31

Post by sitepodmatt » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 9:48 AM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #8

drspacemonkey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To my knowledge, it's because if somebody steals money off your debit card, they've stolen YOUR money. You gotta fight with the bank to get it back. But thanks to consumer protection laws, if somebody steals money off your credit card, they've stolen the BANK'S money. It's up to the bank to get it back.

They've stolen the merchant's money if it was an online transaction. Bank only takes the fall for card-present transactions.

I dont think that's true with vBv and Securecode - I believe that indemnifies the merchant of stolen scenario if enabled, at least in Europe.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#32

Post by ryanwaggoner » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:03 AM UTC

crististm wrote: post #26

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

Apparently, this is the system favoured in US: make people depend on credit and add protections to offset the negatives that you mentioned. End result: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The US national debt has nothing to do with credit card debt.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#33

Post by ryanwaggoner » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:04 AM UTC

barrkel wrote: post #27

skrebbel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, American banks extort their customers to go into debt with them early and often.

Credit cards are more like a delayed bill than debt, if you pay off the amount in full every month (and I don't know why you wouldn't, credit cards are a poor way to borrow money).

And yet, most credit card users do NOT pay off the amount in full. Why do you think banks push these cards so hard?

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#34

Post by jstanley » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:14 AM UTC

Some of his closing remarks about the future of technology are hard to believe. I highly doubt passwords will entirely disappear in favour of "Trusona". I personally will not be submitting to any authentication scheme that can "100% identify the person remotely". It sounds like a bigger vulnerability than the one it solves.

I also find it hard to believe that the FBI can remotely disable a car's engine in the general case. I drive a car which has no ECU. And even cars which do have ECUs don't all have the ability for the ECU to receive radio signals. And even cars that do have the ability to control the ECU with radio signals probably aren't all vulnerable.

Edit: but, aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed the talk. I intend to watch the film.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#35

Post by hudibras » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:15 AM UTC

dannylandau wrote: post #19

The book is wonderful as well.

I picked the book up for a dollar at a used bookstore, not expecting much. I then proceeded to tear through it in less than a day. It's a phenomenal story. The book includes everything in the movie, of course, plus a lot of fine details of how he pulled off his scams (I think a lot of HN users would like these; very hacker-like), PLUS an extraordinary section expanding on his time in French and Swedish prisons. The French prison is mentioned in the movie, but they, if anything, downplayed what it was like.

I've since learned that maybe much of it was embellished, but I still recommend it.

BONUS Frank Abagnale story-slash-rumor: I heard from a friend of a friend that, soon after the movie came out, Courtney Love was tripping out on "something" and started screaming that she needed to speak with Frank Abagnale--somebody who she had never spoken to nor had ever mentioned before. Her agent called somebody, who called somebody else, who called somebody else, and within 30 minutes Frank was on the phone having a long conversation with Courtney, calming her down. No real point to this story, other than it's neat how the six-degrees-of-separation works in show business circles.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#36

Post by crististm » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:16 AM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #32

crististm wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently, this is the system favoured in US: make people depend on credit and add protections to offset the negatives that you mentioned. End result: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The US national debt has nothing to do with credit card debt.

Can you really say "nothing" with a straight face?

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#37

Post by zaarn » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:38 AM UTC

sharpercoder wrote: post #3

A great story. What I do not understand (I am a European) is that he uses a credit card, but not a credit card. I just did an AirBnB and I was prohibited by the system to use my debit card. I was outraged. I still am. I had to buy a separate debit-credit-card to be able to use AirBnB services. AirBnB supports iDeal (Dutch payment system), but only for bookings >6 days. From my point of view, using a debit card is far…

Prepaid Credit Cards are also usually poorly supported and may get your account locked up (tried to signup for Mailgun).

Which I find a bit weird, a Prepaid Card is my safest option considering I have no want for a Credit Card at all. I pay my bills immediately or as early as possible, I don't even like ongoing costs and I try to buffer then into yearly payments if possible (which usually also means you get stuff cheaper)

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#38

Post by shoover » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 11:48 AM UTC

dannylandau wrote: post #19

The book is wonderful as well.

I first heard of Frank Abagnale when adjunct professor Edward Amoroso told my information security class at Stevens that Catch Me If You Can was the best book he ever read. A few weeks later he jokingly berated the class when a quick poll showed no one had yet read it. “I said it’s the best book I ever read and no one reads it?!”

I had queued it and later read it. I couldn’t agree it was the best I ever read but I did thoroughly enjoy it. Incidentally Amoroso was the most compelling speaker of all my professors at Stevens. It was a shame he only taught the one course.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#39

Post by shoover » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 12:07 PM UTC

He draws interesting lessons from his life that you don’t hear all the time from famous people. One example is the ultimate priority of family responsibilities over money, skills, work, etc. He comes out strongly against divorce due to the lifelong effect on kids (which I think undercuts his point that his own father loved his children more than anything—he may have never missed a bedtime kiss, but he still let his kid be put in that horrific position at the courthouse).

Secondly, his admission that he did not see the light or get rehabilitated in prison but found purpose in family and work afterward is worthy of highlighting given the mandate for US politicians to be tough on crime.

Re: Frank Abagnale: “Catch Me If You Can” – Talks at Google [video]

#40

Post by bkor » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 2:05 PM UTC

gregmac wrote: post #14

girvo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia, my debit card was stolen. My bank worked out this fact before I did, and sent me a text message. The charges were reversed within 3 days.

You're still without that money for three days, instead of zero days. Credit cards act like a buffer to your real money, so disputed transactions have no real effect on you.

Debit cards costs less money to shops and so on (transaction cost). Maestro system is way cheaper than anything else.

Credit cards are annoying that your balance isn't updated immediately, they're much more costly to operate, more fraud tolerant (just need to copy the numbers) while the benefit only applies to US and maybe a few others. Meaning, any bank here will pay you back regarding debit card fraud similar to the other response.

Credit/debit cards; it's weird that having such a card results in so many differences other than paying on credit/debit.