But in real life - and the 21st century - check fraud, embezzlement and identity theft are even easier than they look.

That's why City National Bank, which recently completed a purchase of Business Bank of Nevada, hosted a Web seminar Thursday in Hollywood, Calif., featuring Abagnale, who shared tips for everyone from tellers to executives to consumers.

And he should know. The criminal-turned-security-guru cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign countries over a five-year period during his teens.

But for the last 30 years he's worked with the FBI and private companies to prevent fraud. According to his Web site, www.abagnale.com, enforcement is so rare that prevention is the only option.

During the "Webinar" Thursday, Abagnale compared the cost of fraud to spending on natural disaster Hurricane Katrina or the Iraq war.

"They're a drop in the bucket compared to white-collar crime, which costs $660 billion a year or 6 percent of gross national product of this country," Abagnale said. "That comes directly out of your pocket. We all pay for these crimes" through increased fees.

Abagnale said embezzlement reports are also up in recent years.

But few of these crimes are actually reported and prosecuted.

"Like 25 years ago, in most embezzlement cases the higher up in management someone is the less likely it is to be reported," he said, adding that companies would rather avoid the embarrassment.

In a poll of people caught embezzling money, opportunity was the No. 1 reason for giving in to the temptation to steal.

But Abagnale said companies can easily protect themselves by segregating duties.

At companies where the bookkeeper writes, signs and reconciles checks, "it's only a matter of time before someone steals," Abagnale said.

Check forgery is still one of the most popular crimes in the United States.

Abagnale said 1.2 million fraudulent checks are passed each day - more than 13 per second. Losses are estimated at about $20 billion a year.

"Ten years ago I didn't think I'd still be talking about this," he said.

But according to a recent USA Today study, checks are still the most common form of payment in the United States, and Americans write 39 billion of them each year.

About 1.4 million worthless checks are written each day. Many of them were simple overdrafts and mistakes, but many others were forgeries, which are up 71 percent.

And less than 3 percent of the cost of those checks is ever collected.

Bank checks and money orders were most likely to be forged.

Abagnale said check fraud is still so popular because it's a simple, easy crime.

And it's rare for someone to be punished. For every 1,474 people charged with forgery, only 122 are convicted. Only 26 of those go to jail.

"We really don't care that a person ripped off the insurance company for millions of dollars. We care about murderers, rapists ... and now terrorists," Abagnale said.

Prosecutors rarely bring cases against anyone accused of writing less than $5,000 in bad checks. Across state lines, a federal crime, the limit jumps to $250,000.

"They're not likely to get prosecuted," he said. "The prisons are full. They're more concerned with violent criminals than white collar criminals."

And even when restitution is ordered, banks collect less than 5 percent.

"You can't rely on the police, you can't rely on the government, you can't rely on the bank," he said. "You have to rely on yourself."

Abagnale said technology is the single biggest driver in the increase in these crimes. But ethics and character issues in the United States are at its root.

So, how to prevent check fraud?

Identity theft is another crime costing American individuals and businesses billions each year, and Abagnale said it will only become more common as technology makes it easier.

One identity is stolen every 3.5 seconds in the United States.

"It's a very simple crime to do. Every day we pick up the newspaper and there's a new story," he said, referring to security breaches of personal information by companies or nonprofit groups.

And while companies often report that there has been no fraud after a company laptop with sensitive information has been stolen, for example, usually crooks don't use the information for years.

The longer a criminal waits, the less likely the victim is to be paying attention.

But even if your personal information hasn't been stolen or compromised - that you know of - it's easy for the bad guys to become you.

Abagnale used the example of Porter J. Goss, former director of the CIA. Using just the Internet and a little intuition, Abagnale was able to get enough information from land title records to steal Goss' identity.

Social Security numbers are available on everything from property records to bankruptcy court documents.

The Web makes identity theft especially easy, since unscrupulous sites sell personal information for less than $100.

"You can basically pay a fee to get any information about anyone in the world and that was an easy way to steal someone's ID," he said.

Even a selective service post card, which every 18-year-old man in America is required to mail back postage paid to the U.S. government, includes Social Security, date of birth and other personal information.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

Abagnale recommends a microcut shredder, which cuts the papers into tiny pieces rather than strips or cross-cuts.