10 important rules of Social Engineering

10 important rules of Social Engineering 🙊 This is an article about social engineering.

Table of contents

Rule number 1 — Never put pressure on the victim.

Quite often I notice that the guys, when communicating with the victim, put a lot of pressure, I think that this way the person will agree to something faster, but no, this is absolutely not the case. Not all people are stupid vegetables, they won’t just give you your password or money, they want trust. If you failed to inspire confidence in the victim in the first conversation, write that you are busy and reschedule the conversation for tomorrow. By doing this, you will win over the victim and inspire confidence.

Rule number 2 — Take time by creating the illusion that the victim is not alone.

Never let the victim think for even a second that you are desperate and have only 1 client. Use the standard “Just a second”, “Sorry, I need to answer”, etc., thanks to this simple action the person will be more interested in communicating with you.

Rule number 3 — You are only doing the victim a favor.

Let the victim think that it is not she who is helping you, but that you are helping her.

Rule number 4 - The victim must appear stupid in his own eyes

”Can you help me set up an FTP host?” never say you need a password. It’s better to say "Fuck, you’re root on port 667, you need ... ... ...", after which the ideal answer in this situation would be "Do you know how to fix this?"

Rule number 5 — You are always busy.

If you have just started communicating with a random person. Always pretend that you are busy and have an urgent matter worth a million. Be like this: “I want to help, but I’m very busy right now”; “Let me finish, then I’ll be able to help you without any distractions.”

Rule number 6 — Talk.

If you have a deal, no one forbids you to talk a little. Well, or carry a random asshole in another case.

Rule number 7 — Be literate.

When you’re sitting in a trade and you see someone writing CAPS LOCK, it definitely attracts attention, doesn’t it? Don’t make mistakes, at least in spelling, write correctly and use the appropriate case for letters.

Rule number 8 — You have been in a similar situation, as has the victim.

In reality, this will help gain trust from the victim. Just pretend that you were in the same situation that the victim is now in.

Rule number 9 — You truly exist.

Your character must exist, put at least a couple of photos in your profile, and fill it out as a real person. Don’t forget about the time between photos and posts.

Rule number 10 — Never reveal your true colors, to the victim you must be your character.

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to gain or achieve in a conversation with the victim. Never put yourself at risk, everyone writes logs , even if the victim talks like your mother. In most cases, the professional approach will be to completely cut off the connection after obtaining the desired result.

Does it matter whether the opponent deliberately uses dishonest tactics or is not even aware of his logical errors? Perhaps it does. At a minimum, after recognizing the manipulation, you can respond harshly (if the person understands that he is manipulating) or gently (if he does not understand).

So, what techniques does the manipulator use during a discussion or argument:

| Excessive information | Psychological tricks | Irritating your opponent | Using words and terms that are incomprehensible to the opponent | Reading in hearts | Requirement for an unambiguous answer | Labeling | Growing demands | Charge of theorizing | Drawing others over to your side |

1️⃣ Excessive information

The manipulator tries to bring a lot of arguments in order to confuse the opponent. Not only is it simply impossible to compare these arguments in response, but also the information channels of the interlocutor cannot withstand such a load. When you have only one, but real argument, and the manipulator has dozens of them, the psyche may not be able to stand it , and the people around you also view this as a victory for the manipulator . The opponent can easily lose the main idea when witnesses to the discussion go over to the side of the manipulator .

2️⃣ Psychological tricks

This includes absolutely any manipulation of the emotional state of the interlocutor: the use of guilt, playing on pride, irritation of the opponent, flattery, humiliation of personal qualities and other individual psychological characteristics of a person.

3️⃣ Irritating your opponent

It can be placed in a separate paragraph, because there is a whole scattering of techniques here : -▪️indirect hints -▪️ridicule -▪️irony -▪️sarcasm -▪️unfair accusations.

All this is intended to unbalance the interlocutor in order to knock the logical ground out from under his feet and get personal in response.

4️⃣ Using words and terms that are incomprehensible to the opponent

This technique works effectively because the opponent in response will be embarrassed to ask again the meaning of the terms, as this will show the superiority of the manipulator. Due to the fact that the opponent is afraid to ask again, there is, as it were, nothing to argue about - the manipulator wins .

5️⃣ Reading in hearts

The manipulator does not comment on your arguments; he appeals to why you are bringing them, as if trying to understand the reasons for your arguments, and not the essence of what was said.

For example: "You are only saying this because you are ashamed."

And it doesn’t matter whether the opponent is right or wrong, it is important to bring up the motives for his words for discussion .

6️⃣ Requirement for an unambiguous answer

The object of manipulation is asked to give an accurate and clear answer using phrases such as:

• 👉🏻 “don’t evade”
• 👉🏻 “tell it straight”
• 👉🏻 “tell it clearly in front of everyone”

Although this technique seems honest, principled and a sign of determination, in reality the manipulator wants to get a clear "yes" or "no" to a question that requires a detailed answer. Not every question in the world can be answered with a clear “yes,” even if you are mostly inclined to accept the argument.

7️⃣ Labeling

Offensive metaphors, epithets, comparisons.

Labels are selected that cause an emotional negative attitude from others, which allows you to win a psychological victory .

To avoid a fight, the manipulator may label beliefs , positions, and ideas rather than the opponent. “An absolutely stupid idea” is not the same as “You’re a fool,” which means there is no reason for a physical threat.

8️⃣ Growing demands

The manipulator so demands to admit the perfect trifle that the opponent gives in due to the unimportance of the argument . But then the stakes are raised and the manipulator demands recognition of other demands. And we know that if we give in on something small, then an avalanche of demands will fall .

9️⃣ Charge of theorizing

Nobody likes theorists. Therefore, when people around the debaters hear, “Well, it’s all just a theory , it’s all on paper” they tend to accept the manipulator’s point of view , forgetting that some things simply cannot be implemented without careful preparation on paper and theory.

🔟 Drawing others over to your side

This technique summarizes everything that was discussed. If the manipulator manages to arouse the sympathy of others, for the opponent it becomes incredibly difficult to argue, he feels incredible pressure and condemnation . This technique is manipulative for the reason that it doesn’t matter how many people supported your point of view - it doesn’t mean anything. It can, of course, be said, but not always.

The bottom line is that it’s not easy to be a dating scammer and you can only achieve more with if you show initiative than with pre-written texts. These points should help you to broaden your horizons on the subject of "social engineering".