Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only and to inform the public. Social engineering is something everyone should be educated on. The following scenarios are examples to show the public and business owners how these scams work so they can protect themselves. Having said that, it is next to impossible to stop.

How To Get Free Clothes

I bought a John Paul Gaultier button up shirt for $125.00 (a beautiful deep blue), not because I normally spend that much on one shirt, but because it was part of a plan. When I arrived home, I scraped the sides of the threads holding the buttons on with a razor blade until they were barely holding together. Then I washed it. Upon completion, four buttons came off. I took it back to the store and cursed out the young clerk who immediately called management.

The manager came out and I said, “You are selling counterfeit merchandise you piece of human trash.”

His short fuse displayed in brilliant red as expected and I pounced on his weakness (it’s amazing how a manager making $15.00 per hour acts like it’s their products—the high cost of pride). He became irate and refused to give my money back. I continually assaulted him with derogatory language until he threatened to call the police. He played into my hands like any victim—giving me exactly what I wanted: no refund or exchange and two witnesses who saw the event. I jotted their names down on a note pad in case I was ever investigated.

Social Engineer

Social Engineer

So I called the John Paul Gaultier home office seventeen times until I spoke to someone high on the company ladder and told her my story. I said I tried to return the shirt to the factory outlet store, but the manager was incredibly rude and refused to help me even though I had a receipt and only owned the shirt for one day beforehand. She was livid with disgust and couldn’t believe the manager wouldn’t help me. Within six days of my call I received twelve brand new $100+ shirts in my size and a letter of apology. That my friends is known as social engineering.

The Jeans Heist

Armed with my experience and mastery of controlling how I’m perceived by anyone I encounter—and being low on blue jeans—I decided I needed to stock up.

Now . . . I noticed something from my previous experience with John Paul Gaultier: they didn’t ask me for a receipt number, the store manager’s name, which store I bought my shirt from or anything like that. So I decided to not even bother buying a pair of jeans and just call the company as if I had.

I called the Levis Strauss & Company directly and again had to repeatedly ask for someone higher up until I spoke with someone I knew had pull. I told them I bought three pairs of Levis button fly jeans and the the brass rivets which hold the pockets together were not seated correctly—the jeans were falling apart after only one wash. The manager was rude and refused to refund my cash or let me exchange them for new ones.

The man was extremely apologetic and I kid you not, shipped me ten pairs of brand new jeans and a nice Levis jacket. Again, they never asked me which store I bought them at, for a receipt number or anything.

An Explanation

Before you proclaim me a criminal, I did not actually do this—someone I know did (I wrote it in first person for effectiveness in story telling). The brand names mentioned above are not accurate and are for example only. This person makes an estimated $250,000.00 in free merchandise each and every year, has been in prison and lives the life of a social engineer. I know it sounds wild and many of you think this doesn’t happen often. Well, it happens all the time . . . every second of every day by people all over the world. You may be wondering if I ratted him out. Well . . . no; however, other people have and no subsequent investigation has ensued. This and similar fraud happens so frequently, the authorities just don’t have the resources to investigate the overwhelming horde of criminals who have mastered social engineering.

In the shirt scam above, the sophisticated orchestration left little room for criminal investigation. In the Levis scenario, there is a greater chance of getting caught. These are simplistic examples, but rest assured it happens millions of times every day. I left out the good parts explaining exactly how the company representative was coaxed into sending more than a mere replacement—as in ten pairs of jeans and a jacket, way more than the cost of the original purchase (which never actually happened and was pure risk).

Afterword

All fraud is social engineering, from insurance fraud to presidential elections. The entire political system to the mass media. Some people call it a form of brain washing, but it’s really the big show—all the world’s a stage. Even the American prison system is based on fraud and social engineering. These are intellectual crimes—the most difficult to convict and easiest to do.

Remember, this is crime and I in no way condone using these techniques. If you do, you are risking your freedom and will probably get caught. It is not my goal to teach you how to con people—my goal is to make you aware and keep your eyes open. You would be shocked to know what a skilled social engineer could do with that blue jeans receipt you just tossed in the trash. It’s a subset of identity theft known as proof of purchase theft.

I have much more to say on this most interesting and misunderstood area of social manipulation. Next post: FEMA fraud after Hurricane Katrina and why New Orleans remains America’s biggest ticking time bomb.

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