What is Pretexting?

Pretexting and Identity Theft

There are many misconceptions about pretexting, beginning with what it is and why it is harmful practice to the average person.

Pretexting is pretending to be someone you are not in order to retrieve privatized information from an individual or entity. Pretexting does not have to have harmful intent, but it can result in serious situations, such as a scam, identity theft, break-in burglary, or kidnapping.

Typically, pretexting is practiced by scammers or con artists. Pretexting scammers can pose as telemarketers, survey volunteers, or employees of various businesses or institutions such as credit agencies, debt collectors, or even public schools. Pretexting is particularly dangerous over the phone, where scammers can call up individual residences and employ manipulation strategies or “exciting offers” to phish for privatized information such as credit card numbers, pin numbers, social security numbers, or schedules. The phone is dangerous because callers can request private information without references or credentials and sound perfectly legitimate in the questions they ask. If the situation becomes suspicious, the pretexting scammer can simply hang up.

Serious pretexting scammers do not target residences directly to start. First they use pretexting strategies to retrieve low security personal information on their intended target from accredited institutions such as banks, schools, credit agencies and the like, and then use this information to “verify” their identity when they attempt to scam the actual target. This technique is particularly easy to employ if the pretexting scammer targets a junior executive or trusting individual in an establishment who wants to be helpful to a caller and doesn’t realize the danger of handing out even low security information.

There are a number of things that an individual can do to protect themselves from pretexting. It is only good sense to be suspicious of anyone who asks for personal information of any kind for any reason. The first line of defense against pretexting scammers is not to give personal information out over the phone unless you are the one initiating the contact or know who the person who is calling you. Next, be sure to pay attention to your information, your credit accounts, your bank information, and other private information. Do some research on pretexting and keep up-to-date with the latest information on who is pretexting for what and how to protect yourself from potential predators.