Social Engineering Task #3

My task was to befriend an employee and get them to take a selfie with me. I gave it a go but was unable to accomplish my task.

So many things works against me in regards to this task. For one, I am horrible at being social with strangers. Second, befriending people so fast is definitely not my forte. And finally, God how I despise the selfie culture (for reasons I will not get into because it would be a long rant). Nonetheless, I tried. Three times to be exact before I realized I could not possibly pull it off. My methods went as follows: Scout the store for the poor souls who would have to endure the most desperate mediocre conversation of their lives; ask a question about where an item would be; ask questions about said item; ask about their opinion on said item (the agony); and then thanking them whilst trying to carry out any small talk by asking questions like "so, how long have you been working here?" All of them were nice and stuck around while I awkwardly try to string a conversation together. The cringe was real. Luckily I chose to visit a Target, Best Buy, and Game Stop that I don't frequent. I tried those three because maybe the atmosphere would be different where one would help me more than the other and I also tried to talk to someone who was closest to my age to increase the chances of having something in common. Every scenario ended up with me having the spur of the moment courage to pull out my phone and when the time to came to ask for the selfie I could not muster the words to ask. I got as far as pulling my phone out of my pocket and then had to pretend I was going to look at something because I could not ask for a selfie. Just mail my Awkward Moment Of The Year Award to my address, please and thank you. Because accepting it in person would just be a cringe fest.

Someone with better social skills and confidence could get someone to "let down their guard" in a sense by seeming friendly at which point they could make a request to take their picture or in this case take a picture with them. A picture can be used to identify or scout a potential victim. The process itself of being so open and friendly to a stranger can be key points of vulnerability in a personality which can be exploited later.

This task raises issues in regards to being so welcoming to people we don't know. Trusting strangers regardless of how friendly they seem. Being open and trusting can be seen as morally rewarding on its own to certain individuals who aren't concerned with the intentions of the other party. This is a good way to "feel good" about your interactions with strangers. On the other side of the coin, being open to friendly personalities can be a huge vulnerability. Taking a selfie with a stranger for example. What exactly are they going to do with your picture? They could potentially crop out their face and use the victim's face to make a fake ID, profile, or in later identity theft schemes.