Weekend Watch: Canada's HomeEquity Bank taps world's most notorious conman to 'catch the scam'

Canada based HomeEquity bank has released a 'catch the Scam' campaign as it looks to educate users about bank fraud.

 

The series has been conceptualised by Zulu Alpha Kilo and is hosted by Frank W. Abagnale, a former conman turned world-class security expert. Abagnale was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, the Steven Spielberg film based on his remarkable life story. 

 

 

Abagnale had defrauded banks of nearly $2.5M and led authorities on a global manhunt by the age of 21. After spending five years in prison, he would go on to work for the FBI to help them catch cutting-edge cheque forgers. 

 

Yvonne Ziomecki, EVP and CMO, HomeEquity Bank, said, “Scammers are turning their sights on older Canadians – and HomeEquity Bank knew we had to act. According to our survey with Ipsos, more than half of Canadians 55 and older say they’ve been a target, with one-in-three saying they’ve fallen victim to a scam. With Catch the Scam, we’re empowering older Canadians with invaluable insights into how to detect and prevent a scam from taking place. In other words, they’ll now be able to fight back and beat these criminals at their own game.” 

 

Each episode reveals how scammers extract money from people by preying upon their various emotions over the phone. 

 

Zak Mroueh, founder and CCO, Zulu Alpha Kilo, said, “Creativity can make a dent in real society issues. But putting another public service announcement into the world would only go so far. Ultimately, we set out to blur the lines between education and entertainment.” 

 

CREDITS:

Client: HomeEquity Bank 

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo 

Chief creative officer: Zak Mroueh

Creative director: Irfan Khan

ACD/art director: Kevin Sato

ACD/writer: Vinay Parmar

Account team: David Tremblay, Jenn Gaidola-Sobral

Strategy team: Tim Hopkins, Sean Bell 

Client: Yvonne Ziomecki, Vivianne Gauci, Erin Wilson, Niary Toodakian

Media: Iquanti

Media team: Justin Lee and Yogesh Garbyal

Public Relations: Provident

PR team: Morgan McLellan and Matt Roth

Production company: Zulubot/Levelwing  

Director: Mills Allison

Producers: Mitch Cappe, Kristina Loschiavo

Post production: Zulubot 

Executive producer: Tom Evans

Editors: Ashlee Mitchell, Shiv Harrilal 

Motion graphics: Ashlee Mitchell

Colour: Felipe Chaparro

Audio: Noah Mroueh