# Have you ever seen a women used in a 'social engineering' scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2017, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379 "2017-01-05T10:55:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![femmejean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/0ea827/32.png) [@femmejean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femmejean)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/1 "2017-01-05T10:55:23Z")
The average man may have ‘more’ financial power (according to some feminists) and physical power, but the average middle class woman is perceived as non threatening around people and more trustworthy with random strangers which is a major advantage if trying to gain from others easily. Watching a video on YouTube titled ‘Asking 100 Guys For Sex’, it seems that a lot were willing to go with a young attractive woman without actually knowing who she is or what her true intentions were as opposed to vice versa where no one went with the guy. Now for truly malicious criminals, a young white woman is the least suspicious individual and therefore the best decoy. Even with this social advantage, I rarely hear of women being used like this. However, do you personally know of a story where criminals have lured someone in with an attractive woman? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/2 "2017-01-05T11:15:41Z")
Well, I hear [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19327505) sort of thing is sadly common. Whatever did happen to T-minus? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/3 "2017-01-05T13:06:55Z")
Could it be possible that women have such a good reputation because, by a large majority, they won’t allow themselves to be used in such ways? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/4 "2017-01-05T13:30:42Z")
I watch a lot of noir films. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/5 "2017-01-05T13:34:48Z")
It happens. Girl pretends to get drunk with lonely guy at bar. They go back to his place where girl’s BF or pimp steps in to rob the guy blind. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/6 "2017-01-05T13:37:56Z")
Using a pretty girl is the oldest criminal/scam artist/thief/spycraft trick in the book. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/7 "2017-01-05T14:41:11Z")
There’s numerous cases of women being used as bait for robberies via Craigslist. Go to some location for sex, get shaken down or beaten by a couple of dudes waiting with her. More benignly, there’s a reason why there’s a lot of pretty young women in sales, especially stuff like working kiosks or tables trying to attract passing foot traffic. Not a crime but definitely social engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/8 "2017-01-05T14:42:01Z")
[The badger game.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_game) ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/9 "2017-01-05T15:19:57Z")
There’s this old one: > [@several places on the web](#): > > This is an old scam that has started up again… > This is a warning to men who may be regular Tesco or Asda customers. Over > the last months I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. > Simply going out to get a few odd’s and ends has turned out to be quite > traumatic. Don’t be naive enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your > friends. > > Here’s how the scam works: > > Two very hot 25-26 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing > your shopping into the boot. They both start wiping your windscreen with a > rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy little > T-shirts. It is impossible not to look. > > When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say ‘No’ and instead ask you > for a ride to another store. You agree and they get in the backseat. On the > way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat > and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet. > I had my wallet stolen May 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th & > 24th. Also June 1st, 4th, twice on the 8th, 16th, 23rd, 24th, three times > last Saturday and it’s very likely to happen again this coming weekend. > > So tell your friends to be careful. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/10 "2017-01-05T15:50:17Z")
Related to kferr’s joke, there was a series of crimes that happened several years back (that I couldn’t google up) where a couple of attractive young women on the beach would strip nude in one of those public “sand rinsing” showers and start playing around with each other–while their accomplice would steal wallets and purses from the distracted beachgoer’s blankets. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/11 "2017-01-05T16:02:58Z")
A local woman got prosecuted for running one of those ‘fortuneteller’ operations out of her home – palm readings, sure, but apparently her specialty was telling people that they were suffering bad luck because of a cursed item. No, tossing the cursed item aside is no good; you need to give it to someone who can _cleanse_ it. By coincidence, she _is_ the person who can so cleanse it; also by coincidence, the cursed item would turn out to be “a diamond ring” or “money”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/12 "2017-01-05T16:19:58Z")
That’s interesting but doesn’t really line up with the OP, which is about using a sexually attractive woman as bait. The scam you describe could be, and indeed is, also run by men. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/13 "2017-01-05T16:28:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > That’s interesting but doesn’t really line up with the OP, which is about using a sexually attractive woman as bait. The scam you describe could be, and indeed is, also run by men. Well, the OP also said the average middle-class woman is perceived as nonthreatening and trustworthy – adding that a young white woman is the least suspicious individual before asking about criminals luring someone in with an attractive woman. So I figured there was no harm in erring on the side of mentioning it. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/14 "2017-01-05T16:32:05Z")
This technique has been around a loooong time. Google “honey trap espionage” for many examples. It’s certainly not limited to espionage, but adding that to the search string helps weed out those cases that don’t exactly fit the OP, as when someone uses the technique to try to catch a significant other in infidelity. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/15 "2017-01-05T16:34:46Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > Watching a video on YouTube titled ‘Asking 100 Guys For Sex’, it seems that a lot were willing to go with a young attractive woman without actually knowing who she is or what her true intentions were as opposed to vice versa where no one went with the guy. Now for truly malicious criminals, a young white woman is the least suspicious individual and therefore the best decoy. I think you’re making a peculiar reading of things here. It’s not news nor much debatable that men are, as a class, pretty stupid about sex and will chase an evidently willing POA right off a cliff. Women might not be a lot smarter about men, but I think they are generally far more wary and cautious about rushing off to bed with a stranger. It was the S.C.U.M. Manifesto that listed the endless disgusting things a man would do (wade through a mile of shit, swim though a river of vomit, etc.) “if he thought friendly pussy was on the other side.” Never found much general reason to disagree. So using attractive women as bait, whether the scam is run by the woman, a woman or a man, is something that probably goes back to Cro-Magnon times. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/16 "2017-01-05T20:03:46Z")
There was a story on a young, attractive, patriotic woman in WWII. Her assignment was to “fall in love” with specific targets and use various forms of “pillow talk” for info. The US got the intell, the targets got some great sex. Top one - a fellow at the (Vichy) French embassy - the safe contained the code books for the Ultra machine. She was given barbiturates for the night guard and his mastiff. A professional safecracker was obtained from a prison. But no, young attractive women would NEVER use their looks for advantage… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/17 "2017-01-05T20:42:20Z")
This isn’t a “scam” at all, but when I was in central Europe a decade ago as part of a college overseas trip with some other students and some Europe-based staff, it was my job to interview some immigrants from China (I was the only person who spoke Mandarin). I was traveling with a woman companion who was around my age. It was mentioned by her that a woman might be perceived as less ‘threatening’ than a man would be, since many of these Chinese immigrants were very suspicious and guarded folks, and the presence of a woman might put them more at ease. So yes, there are definitely situations in which a woman has a social advantage or could be used for social-engineering advantage. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/18 "2017-01-05T20:46:33Z")
I’ve lured many a man back to a hotel room where I’ve then helped myself to a kidney. It happens all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/19 "2017-01-05T21:54:21Z")
The ABC show _What Would You Do?_ always runs scenarios where people will accept criminal activity when women do it, but become suspicious when men do it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379/20 "2017-01-05T21:55:52Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’ve lured many a man back to a hotel room where I’ve then helped myself to a kidney. It happens all the time. With fava beans? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-a-women-used-in-a-social-engineering-scam/776379.md?page=2)