7 Coolest Movie Con Jobs

Because Duplicity’s out today. Spoiler alert!

Mar 19th 2009 By James White

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The Film: Catch Me If You Can (2002)

The Hook: Take your pick – this film is absolutely loaded with swindles, dodges and scams. Our favourite is Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio) pretending to be a pilot – to collect cheques from Lufthansa and Pan AM.

The only problem is, he then gets called to duty. He escapes through the loo, though in real life (and Abagnale definitely existed), he just skedaddled through the back of a 737.

Why is it cool? He impersonates a pilot! You’ve got to have balls of steel to pull that one off.

Could it work in real life? Besides the fact that Abagnale did it for real, you mean? In 2007, an unnamed German man joined SriLankan Airlines and began flying their Airbus planes. Sadly, the company’s bosses later discovered he wasn’t actually a qualified pilot, but a low-level flight crewmember.

So he had flight experience, he’d just never been at the controls of a plane. We wouldn’t advise you trying this at home, unless you live in a hanger.