What is Social Engineering?

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Social engineering is the act of manipulating people online into doing certain things such as revealing their private information or passwords!

This type of online manipulation takes advantage of a victim’s naivety and willingness to help and please others, and it plays a part in many other types of online scamming.


Here are some examples of social engineering:

You receive an email claiming to be from your bank or a trusted organization. They ask you to click on a link and input your details such as your password and other personal information. This is usually called phishing!

Someone phones you claiming to be from your bank. They ask you to give out your confidential information such as your bank account PIN in order to solve a problem. Do not give out your information! Your bank will NEVER confirm your details over a phone call.

Here’s how to avoid becoming a victim of social engineering:

- Never give out your private information such as your password, PIN or ID number.

- Remember that your bank will never ask you for your password or PIN over an email or phone call.

- If you receive a call claiming to be from your bank or trusted organisation, rather end the call and phone them back yourself.

- NEVER open email attachments from unknown sources or click on links in and email.

Social engineering can be convincing as it often seems to come from organizations and people of authority. Do not be the next victim – always be wary of people requesting your personal information!


Contact our OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) department on 021 110 0422 or email contact@osint.co.za to learn more about social engineering!

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