Pre-Texting-R-Us

by lg0p89

First, let me disclaim any responsibility for this article.  This is for educational use only.  This is a work of fiction.  Any likenesses are purely coincidental.  I am not admitting nor denying anything... ever.  No, I am not a practicing attorney.

Now that the irresponsibility clause is out of the way, here we go.  I work at a bank.  That generally sounds pretty boring but this can be an interesting job.  I talk to a lot of people through the day nearly every day.  Some are in a good situation.  Their family members are in good health, they talk to me about the holidays, their business may be going good, etc.  Others are in a not so good situation.  The collectors are tracking them down for payments, the banks are calling for payments, and the credit card companies are threatening to take their firstborn child.

At the bank, I work in the Special Assets section, which means I do collections and the more serious, legal actions.  This brings me to the crux of the story.  I needed to find a person who claimed his loan officer simply told him to stop paying on his loan.  First and foremost, what a crock!  This made no sense.  So his loan officer, who works for the bank, told him not to pay the bank, who also pays him?  Right.  So I ran through the usual channels (pulling a credit report, calling relatives on the application, etc.) with no luck.  This person tried to get off of the grid.

I could not call his last employer and ask if he still worked there as a representative of the bank.  The employers are wisening up and not giving out any information.  Sometimes you can get the basic information and a little more from a drone in the HR department.  At times they ask for a release to be signed by the person so they won't get sued.  The most drastic I have come in contact with has been the local branch of the American Red Cross.  Under no circumstances would they even let me know (with a different case) if the person was still working there, ever worked there, or was still actively using oxygen.

Social engineering to the rescue!

I needed a background for a vital pertinent service in order to secure the information.  After all, the person on the other end of the line is simply not going to just give this out without a really good reason, such as helping out a fellow citizen just doing their job.

With this in hand, the last place of work was called, with myself obviously not calling as the bank.  I was now Scott, an older UPS driver.  I had a delivery with a bad address and no home number.  The person I was tracking, per the story line, did leave this number as a point of contact.  After the initial contact with a clueless receptionist, I was transferred to another person.  The second person sounded more like an office staff-person instead of a greeter.  I explained in full character my faux issue.

I didn't want to expose any information re why I really wanted to contact him.  I complained that if I could not get his number that his package was going back.  I gave her an old number to confirm with her that I was not pulling a series of digits out of the air.  I was finally able, after much verbal gymnastics, to get the farce across, and I got some information in return.

I also have used this variance with an insurance company to get information.  There was a mutual client with no good numbers for me to reach him at.  I called the insurance company that I had on file for the client.  We have to keep an updated insurance binder on all clients with commercial loans so we know the collateral is covered in case there is an accident.

I told the agent who I was and that I needed to update my file.  So at least I was mostly honest here.  I did not tell her explicitly that I was in the collections area or that I was going to hammer him once I got his personal information.  She was very open and understanding with me, and gave me his cell phone number without out too much of a struggle.

Buyer beware.