SOCIAL ENGINEERING ENVIRONMENT OF THE FIRST OF MYANMAR.
People want to be helpful - While you might find some people who are completely selfish and uncaring, most people will help you if you find the right “button” to push. Finding that button is what you are trying to do with social engineering.
People hate to be embarrassed - Con artists make BILLIONS by locating people who are afraid of other people knowing or believing that they aren’t intelligent or competent. They won’t ask questions or for assistance. so the con artist provides them with “help” in a manner that actually results in the person assisting the con artist.
Most people believe you are who you claim to be - Unless they are well-trained, prejudiced (and you don’t “fit” their idea of who you should be if you meet them in person), or they have recently been scammed and the memory is still fresh, if you tell someone that you are a certain person, they will believe you. You simply need to supply them with enough details so that their preconceptions do the heavy lifting for you, and you can get them to help you.
Finding locations with mean or bad bosses is like a gold mine - Bosses who bully and intimidate their subordinates and employees make those individuals susceptible to being scammed. The employees are often so afraid of angering the boss or making a mistake, that they will do things rather than ask questions. You may actually hear their desperation in their voices and a social engineer can take full advantage of that.
Locations with high turnovers are gold mines also - If the company is a terrible place to work, then their employee turnover is usually quite high. That means there are always new people and that they are always trying to train them. It also means that the odds of your calling or emailing someone who doesn’t know the system well are quite high and that means you’ll be able to run your game with relative ease.
Most people’s vendors will give you a great deal of information about their customer if they believe that you ARE the customer - If you observe the business and see who services their needs, you can quickly make a list of their vendors. If you call those vendors and ask for billing information (even better tell them that you are going to pay them an amount that you owe) you’d be surprised at what information that they will tell you. You can use that information to social engineer the business or even to socially engineer the vendor themselves, pretending to be the business.
Most people have never talked to people in their corporate office - If you call a location and claim that you are from “corporate”, most people won’t know. If you claim to be working for one of the “bigwigs” (name recognition helps) you’ll find that people will go out of their way to assist you. The boss/manager might have spoken to people at “corporate”; however the average employee hasn’t. Unless you make an unusual request or lose your composure, you’ll obtain a wealth of information.
You can get a great deal of information pretending to be salesperson trying to get someone’s business - If you have some business cards printed, bring by some “gifts” (calendars, coffee mugs, hats, etc.) and you have some literature from some manufacturers who they don’t use (A call in advance can determine this) you can become the “regional salesperson” for a business and obtain a meeting with someone who you want to meet. During your “sales call” you can look around, obtain names of people who work there and potential obtain a internal phone book or some passwords.You can even bring a camera into the business and take video of the interiors. So for roughly an expenditure $100–150 USD (for the business cards' phone number and some “gifts”) you can garner a wealth of information.
Try to approach people of the opposite gender - If you are someone who needs “help” it’s always better to approach some of the opposite gender as they will always be more helpful. While flirting isn’t necessary, being friendly can help and it may make the person even more willing to assist you.
Clean cut and clean shaven is usually the way to go - Clean and ironed clothes, clean nails (manicures are best), clean shoes (new are better, however polished will work), a haircut and good breath will make selling your identity easier. A professional or normal looking person will sell things almost every time. If you look like a creep, you’ll be remembered as being a creep and you’ll have a harder time with things.
NOTE: I’m not trying to tell people how to social engineer. I am trying to tell people how they can recognize when someone might be trying to “game them” and then to be on their guard, People who have performed social engineering for years successfully know the above and they use those skills and states of being to their advantage.
Unfortunately, even armed with this knowledge, people will get scammed again.And again,And again.
