Social Engineering

A couple of days back, a very good doctor friend got scammed into giving her bank details to a caller pretending to be a bank employee. He knew she had requested for an inactive account to be reactivated just the previous day. He knew she had requested for a check book. He conned her because he left no doubt in her mind that he was from the bank. He was that convincing.

That convincing. To a highly educated doctor. To a person who has used banks ever since she became an adult. To a regular online shopper. To someone who has read about such scams many times.

He robbed her of 20k within minutes. She was able to limit the damage because she realized her mistake almost instantly and rushed to the bank in her car to cancel the card.

This is called social engineering. Smart educated people, who have read time and again about not disclosing any bank details, get scammed by social engineers.

Read the words carefully- Doctor, scammed, realized mistake, rushed in car, canceled card, limited damage.

Now imagine an ATM card in the hands of a poor uneducated gullible villager!