'Catch Me If You Can' conman warns over Facebook fraud

Frank Abagnale, the former conman portrayed in the Spielberg film Catch Me If You Can, has warned that data posted on Facebook is an invitation to identity thieves.  

 He said the world’s biggest social network makes fraud easier, but blamed naïve members rather than Facebook itself, The Guardian reports.

"If you tell me your date of birth and where you're born [on Facebook] I'm 98 per cent [of the way] to stealing your identity," he said.

"Never state your date of birth and where you were born [on personal profiles], otherwise you are saying 'come and steal my identity'."

Abagnale, who now works as a security consultant, was the target of a US federal manhunt in the 1960s as he posed as an airline pilot, doctor and attorney to steal millions of dollars.

“What I did 40 years ago as a teenage boy is 4,000 times easier now,” he said, although he lamented that children lack some of the skill he developed because of their dependence on technology.