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Pretexting
What exactly is pretexting?
Pretexting is the act of falsifying identity or lying to persuade a target
to release information or perform an action. Pretexting is most commonly
done over the telephone.
Pretexting is more than a simple lie as it often involves prior research
and set up, using pieces of known information (e.g. date of birth, last
bill amount) to establish legitimacy in the mind of the target (e.g. a
credit card company representative).
The pretext is usually an invented scenario constructed by the assailant.
The assailant may call the actual owner of the information saying they are
the representative from the credit card company confirming some
identifying or personal information.
For example, the "representative" may be confirming a knowingly false
change in address, when the customer corrects them by giving them their
correct address. Then, the "rep" asks the customer to confirm their
identity by revealing the last four digits of their social security
number, date of birth, and/or mother's maiden name.
The complimentary part of this pretext is then for the assailant to call
the credit card company claiming to be the customer. With this personal
information, they may access or enable other account features and even get
another credit card issued.
Pretexting is a type of social engineering. Social engineering is any
collection of techniques used to manipulate people into performing actions
or divulging confidential information. Phishing is another type of social
engineering. The term typically applies to trickery for information
gathering or computer system access. In most cases the perpetrator never
comes face-to-face with the victim.
Third parties-- whether your family members, friends, or prospective
thieves-- aren't supposed to have access to your personal information. The
only real exception to access of your personal devices is an employer who
issued you a company phone or any device; they have the right to ensure
you are not abusing company resources.
Reverse Phone
Detective does NOT condone pretexting for personal information,
telephone numbers, and/or phone records in any way. Our records in no
way, shape, or form come from pretexting. Companies and persons that use
pretexting should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Know the law:
Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (or Financial Services Modernization
Act), it is illegal for anyone to:
- Use fictitious, false, or fraudulent statements or documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
- Use forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents to get customer information from a financial institution or directly from a customer of a financial institution.
- Ask another person to get someone else's customer information using false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or using false, fictitious or fraudulent documents or forged, counterfeit, lost, or stolen documents.
Scandal alert!
In a recent public relations nightmare, Hewlett-Packard's Chairwoman
Patricia Dunn, Ethics Officer Kevin Hunsaker, and several private
investigators were implicated and accused of using pretexting to get
private phone records of board members, journalists, and HP employees in
an attempt to identify who was leaking restricted company information to
the media.
Hired private investigators also put spyware on at least one reporter's
computer. Charges have been dropped, but not before the State of
California reached a $14.5 million dollar settlement with HP to fund
investigations into pretexting and similar types of privacy rights
investigations.
(You can read more about this story
here.)
Private investigation companies:
Until recently, many private investigation companies were supplying call
and text records on virtually anyone!
For less than a hundred dollars, these companies would use pretexting and
other illegal tactics to gain these records. Tactics included calling the
phone companies impersonating the actual phone customer and requesting
physical phone records (under the pretext they had changed addresses).
The issue gained national attention when a
Washington D.C. blogger bought former Supreme Allied Commander
of NATO, former presidential candidate General Welsey Clark's phone
records from www.celltolls.com for $89.95 USD. The only information
required was "General Clark's cell phone number and our credit card."
In 2005, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) counted
40 companies that
were illegally selling phone records.
Some companies are even still advertising call and text records online
even though it is illegal! They are breaking the law by doing it. For more
information, check out the Federal Trade Commission's
page
on pretexting.
Reverse Phone Detective in no way permits, endorses, or supports
pretexting or the
sale of phone records. Our services are designed to help you find
directory information only (name, address, carrier, line type) about cell
phones and unlisted numbers.
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Example 555-555-555
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