The No-Hype Pretexting Informational Resource

What is Pretexting?

Pretexting is a data mining scam with potentially serious consequences. Pretexting is when someone assumes the guise of another person in order to establish trust and extract privatized information from an unsuspecting target, typically over the phone or through online interaction. Barring sanctioned police investigations, pretexting is illegal. Pretexting is a kind of "social engineering" that is a subset of fraud.

The reason that pretexting is called pretexting is because the pretexting scammer not only pretends to be someone they’re not, but also creates a credible "pretext" for why the privatized information is needed.

Uses of Pretexting

An example of pretexting would be when you receive a telephone call in which you are asked to participate in the survey by your "credit card company," "bank," or similar institution that privatizes information. During this survey, you might be asked for confidential information, such as your social security number or mother’s maiden name, perhaps with the reason of verifying your identity. This is considered pretexting when the "survey" is being conducted by a pretexting scammer. The pretexting scammer may claim to be conducting the survey on behalf of your credit card company or bank, and may "legitimize" their claim using information such as your address, phone number, real estate taxes, or other information that is publically available. However, in a pretexting scam, the claim of legitimacy is merely a ruse by a pretexting scammer who has formulated "a pretext" to retrieve privatized information to which they are not entitled. In this situation, especially where credit card numbers and bank accounts are concerned, pretexting can be a means to identity theft.

However, identity theft is not the only objective to which pretexting can be put. Pretexting scammers may also sell your private information to other parties or for people personally interested in you. Pretexting can also attack companies. Pretexting scammers may call businesses the same way they do individuals, with the similar seemingly-legitimate "pretext" in order to retrieve personal information about individuals. Pretexting can even be used in more direct theft by someone calling the security unit of a building and impersonation a security officer or manager in order to retrieve lock codes they intend to use of sell for breaking and entering. Pretexting can be a tactic in corporate espionage. In more personalized examples, pretexting can occur in kidnapping cases in which a man or woman calls a school or similar institution pretending to be a parent or concerned relative of a targeted child and attempts to retrieve information to which they are not entitled.

Advanced Pretexting

Advanced pretexting schemes often involve a sophisticated study of the target. Advanced Pretexting schemes will often do a background check on the intended victim, gathering any public information that is available in order to make their pretexting scenario sound as credible as possible. For example, a pretexting scammer may look up information on family members, employment, phone numbers, and addresses. The pretexting scammer will then call the intended victim or business and use publically available information such as real estate transactions or declaration of bankruptcy in such a manner as to assure the target that they are a credible institution and only need the victim to "fill in blanks." In this way, the pretexting scammer appears to be a concerned employee merely following company protocol in order to help the target or someone close to the target "protect" their information or receive paid-for services.

Serious pretexting scammers could go to such lengths as to imbibe their lies with emotionally charged scenarios, such as making a claim to the target that a family member is in trouble with the law, injured in a hospital, or a similar pretexting scenario that will worry the target so much that he or she will forget to be careful about his or her information and give in to the pretexting scammer’s demands.

Exceptionally careful pretexting scammers will go through multilayered steps to increase the credibility of a pretexting scheme. For example, a pretexting scammer with an intended target may first run a pretexting scheme against an lesser institution or business with access to the target’s privatized information before contacting a more legitimate target, such as a bank. In this way, the pretexting scammer preys upon junior executives or young account managers with insufficient training, experience, or awareness of security measures in order to extract confidential information that is less damaging in the wrong hands than what the pretexting scammer hopes to ultimately retrieve. Using benign information, the pretexting scammer then calls up the target and impersonates a "concerned official party", using the confidential information as a cloak to establish credibility for the assumed identity. Once trust is established with the target, the pretexting scammer is able to coax damaging information--such as credit card numbers, social security number, bank account numbers, etc.--from the unsuspecting target.

Concerns about Pretexting

Pretexting is a serious concern in today’s computerized world. Our identities are becoming increasingly available through shared computer data systems, and unlike other kinds of fraud, pretexting scammers establish trust without meeting their targets face to face. Pretexting schemes are usually conducted over the phone or through online communication channels. It is important to understand pretexting in order to know how to protect yourself. Pretexting can be conducted by anyone and can be used against anyone. Because of the inherent anonymity of pretexting schemes, pretexting scammers enjoy a relatively "safe" criminal activity at the expense of honest, unsuspecting victims and/or businesses.

To learn more about pretexting, you are encouraged to read through the content on this website. To view frequently asked questions about pretexting, visit the FAQ. For the legal definition of pretexting as well as the official laws defending honest citizens against pretexting, view the Pretexting Legality page. For information about how to protect yourself or your family from pretexting fraud, visit the page on Pretexting Protection page. To view additional resources about pretexting, including examples and consequences of those who have been caught pretexting as well as those victimized by pretexting, view the pretexting resources page.