[Blink]

When people hear "social engineering" they often think of getting free stuff. This IS technically one form of social engineering, but social engineering is a much broader subject. Marketers, hackers, government agents, con artists, and many other people all use social engineering. Social engineering can be defined as "The psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information" (Wikipedia). However, even this definition isn't the greatest. Social engineering is taking advantage of social tendancies to get something.

If all you want is free stuff, and you are tired of me annoying you, look here:

Spoiler: If all you want is free stuff

Never use a script or a predefined "method". Just don't.

You should read scripts and methods, but just to get an idea of what you can do. Then, get creative and think.

Call up whoever you wanna scam social engineer, and make up as you go. BUT, start with something small, like Starbucks, Coffee Bean or whatever else you have. Never falter, pretend like you actually have an issue and need a refund or second drink or whatever. You might not get it the first time (try to ask them to "remake" your drink if you are having a hard time refunding), but that's OK, try again next time.

Then, move on from coffee and build up.

For the real guys:

Spoiler:

Read about old attacks, I reccomend "Ghost in the Wires" by Kevin Mitnick, it's a great book, that actually has a story. (So, I also reccomend it to those of you who don't want to learn this, it's still a good book.) You can start by doing what was said in the skid free stuff section, or you can try to SE family members and friends (who WON'T get mad at you) for information or to get them to install something, get creative.

Come up with theoretical attacks when you get bored, this helps you get used to coming up with stuff and helps you be creative.

And, for the end:

Spoiler:

Congrats, you made it to the end of this thread! Now go get some free coffee or start reading! Good luck!

[ApatheticEuphoria]

Very well put, I agree completely, I would personally like to see more in this section than just people trying to get free stuff. There are much more complicated/valuable scenarios and methodologies. Using SE to manipulate or influence how people think for personal gain is one example, but you could also use it to other ends. Be it finding justice or to protect someone close to you, or even other more Sinister intentions...

[Bish0pQ]

Social Engineering is more than getting free stuff for sure. It is a great help if you're trying to pentest/infiltrate a company or persons life.
Saw a video which I thought was kind of good, I mean SE'ing is getting kind of advanced these days, and I'm not talking about the free stuff getting part.

Just going to leave this video here.

[Bish0pQ]

Also before I forget, thanks for the share of course!

[ApatheticEuphoria]

I also found some interesting videos:

Spoiler:

https://youtu.be/cQtQg--PB0k

https://youtu.be/GZGY0wPAnus

https://youtu.be/XpIqfzYN4yM

https://youtu.be/dy75GtKsOAw

[Skullmeat]

I've never considered SE just free stuff. One example of SE I've peraonally considered using is my status as an IT knowlageable person. I get asked to fix machines all the time. I've thought about how easy it would be to use this for nafarious purposes, such as spying on people, or stealing accounts.

[ApatheticEuphoria]

I've never considered SE just free stuff. One example of SE I've peraonally considered using is my status as an IT knowlageable person. I get asked to fix machines all the time. I've thought about how easy it would be to use this for nafarious purposes, such as spying on people, or stealing accounts.

Have you never experimented with RATS, you know, from a pentesting/security perspective?

[xssinj]

thanks for the share of course!

[Tripartite]

Thanks for this noob-friendly guide, I'm definitely gonna try and get myself some free pizza.

[MattyMagnificent]

I would say I am decent at social engineering. I first started off as an eWhore and that gave me a good idea on how to do these things. A good place you could go to practice social engineering (that i found to work) is on TeamSpeak. It's free and there are a lot of public servers with people on them. I find this a very good way to practice (imo). Also (this isn't needed) you can go on a VPN to prevent yourself from getting DDoSed. (Unless it's a trusted public server)