Introduction
Pretexting is the act of creating and using an imaginary scenario to engage a targeted victim and manipulate them in a manner that they are influenced to provide sensitive information.
Example: impersonate co-workers, police, bank officials, tax authorities etc.,
The fraudsters gather information related to the potential/targeted victim from various sources like social media accounts or use personal information collected from previously disclosed information. They collect this data to impersonate someone and to create a credible story for establishing trust for collecting information or committing fraud.
Examples of data that is gathered: job title, company, office location, home address, date of birth, names of known friends/relatives etc.,
Ultimately, pretexting is a type of cyber fraud where the fraudster tries to impersonate someone or create a non-existent scenario to gain access to information they require to commit fraud.