PARIS — The man who nearly stole over 70 million euros from France’s business and banking elite is a serial manipulator who sees fraud not as a crime but as a way of life, according to those behind a new film based on the con artist’s exploits.

“Je Compte sur Vous” — released in English as “Thank You for Calling” — is based on the exploits of the French-Israeli Chikli, who engineered rogue payments by phoning companies and pretending to be the firm’s CEO or a French intelligence agent. Those behind the film, which was released in France on Dec. 30, describe Chikli as a chameleon of a man, a brazen charmer whose boasts suggest he has yet to abandon his criminal career.

“Chikli is an unstoppable seduction machine,” said director Pascal Elbe in a recent interview in Paris. “For him it’s a job, it’s definitely not a con.”

Chikli’s heists were astounding in their daring. With a little background research and a well-placed phone call, Chikli could cajole or bluster his way into organizing the transfer of several hundred thousand, a million or even millions of euros to bank accounts in Dubai, Russia, China or Hong Kong.

His victims put down the phone convinced they were speaking to their boss or to a genuine French spy.