In addition to his consultancy work,
Abagnale is also heavily involved in
the development and design of secure
government and corporate cheques;
expounding security features, he is
particularly demonstrative, using a
napkin as a prop, motioning to imaginary
watermarks, holograms and signatures.
To offset the current loopholes
manipulated by counterfeiters, such
features are becoming even more
complex. These include, to name a few,
thermochromatic inks, which react to
changes in temperature and cannot be
replicated on a colour copier or laser
printer; prismatic backgrounds made up
of multiple colours that are difficult to
reproduce on colour copiers; and
ultraviolet, light-sensitive fibres.
Abagnale is adamant that corporates
would do well to loosen the purse
strings and invest in such features.
“Companies are still not putting
enough thought into protecting their
cheques,” he says. “Often they will
employ the services of a purchase agent
to find the cheapest versions, which
anyone can replicate, and they wonder
why they are so susceptible to forgery.
I believe – and have always believed –
that CFOs and chief auditors need to
take a more active role in deciding what
should be going into their cheques.”
He also has misgivings over the
rising trend of mobile banking, by
which customers can deposit funds
remotely from a smartphone through a
scanning app, sending across an image
of the cheque electronically.
“I am not entirely convinced that
wireless banking has been perfected,”
he says. “That goes for both chequescanning
apps and voice recognition
software – there are some pretty good
mimics out there who could get around
the system easily.”
