Frank William Abagnale Jr’s story is particularly well known thanks to its reimagining in popular culture. In fact, his days as a counterfeiter were immortalised by Hollywood in the 2002 film Catch Me if You Can, in which Abagnale is portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. Abagnale was a master impersonator as well as a counterfeiter, and initially became embroiled in criminality when he was 16, when he pretended to be a pilot for PanAm Airlines in order to obtain free flights. Over the next five years, during which time he also masqueraded as a doctor and a lawyer, among other things, he became a master forger of cheques.