Social Engineering: Quiet Nights Are Here Again

by Variable Rush (having witnessed actions by Comrade Dad)

Names and numbers have been changed to protect the innocent.

Social engineering is the practice of psychologically manipulating or deceiving individuals or groups to persuade them into divulging sensitive information, performing certain actions, or granting access to restricted resources or systems.  Although social engineering often receives negative attention in the news due to its impact on a company's security, sometimes it can be used to achieve some peace and quiet.

Back in the early-1990s, I was a young child in elementary school.  This was before cell phones really existed, and every household had at least one landline phone attached to a wall.

For a while, we would receive wrong number calls throughout the day and night, disrupting our sleep.  Occasionally, we would unplug the phone, but my father believed that enduring a few wrong numbers was a small price to pay in case someone needed to reach us during an emergency, which did happen once.

The common thread in these calls was that the callers were looking for someone named "Franklin."  The callers varied, and I don't recall if there were any repeats.  They all sounded anxious and desperate, as if they were addicts craving their next fix.

We soon realized the reason behind these calls.  In our area, phone numbers typically started with either 867 or 869.  Our number began with 867, so we assumed they were trying to reach the owner of the 869 number but mistakenly pressed "7" instead.

The phone company offered to change our number, but we declined.  The police couldn't do anything as there was no evidence that the callers were drug addicts seeking their dealer.

One Friday evening, after months of dealing with these calls, my father came home from work, opened a Löwenbräu beer, and began watching TV.  I'm not sure if he had a plan or if it was spontaneous, but when the phone rang, he was prepared.  He asked us to be quiet and answered the phone, saying, "Yeah, this is Franklin."  The conversation continued, and my dad eventually asked, "You remember where the place is, right?"  My brothers, my mother, and I were all curious about why he was pretending to be a drug dealer.

After listening for a few more seconds and hanging up, my dad had a satisfied expression on his face.  He told us to remain quiet as he dialed the 869 number.

Soon after, he asked for Franklin.  When Franklin came on the line, my father spoke in a manner I had never heard before or since.  By the time he finished, Franklin knew his secret was out.  My dad informed him that if any more calls from his drug-seeking friends came through to us, we would go to the police without hesitation.

My dad had used social engineering, whether he knew what it was or not, to pump the first person for information my dad thought he knew, and was able to confirm his suspicions about the nature of the calls we were receiving.

We never received any more calls, and the Franklin incident has become a humorous anecdote in our family: the day Dad outsmarted a group of drug addicts.