Social Engineering - Christopher Hadnagy [95]
After just a short time he began to relax. Why? He was among like-minded people. He felt connected, part of the crowd. Their comments put him at ease and he began to spill his guts about his “habits.”
The preceding is a nice example of how to develop and build rapport, but how can you use it as a social engineer?
You can build rapport in a matter of seconds by applying the principles of building rapport discussed earlier. To prove this, imagine you need to grab some cash, you don’t have your ATM card on you, and you forgot your account number, so you have to go in and ask someone for some help. Maybe you feel a little embarrassed about having to ask for your account number. You walk into a local branch of your bank you have never been into. No one is in the bank and you have your choice of tellers. Maybe you don’t think about it, most people don’t, but you will look over all the open lanes and choose the person who makes you feel the most comfortable. You will get the same results from each lane, but you will choose the one that makes you feel okay.
Maybe you choose the most attractive person, or the one with the biggest smile, or the one who greets you first—whomever you choose and however you choose them you make the choice either consciously or unconsciously, but a lot of it has to do with rapport. The same principle will prove true when it comes to you and your target. As you walk up to a target she will make instantaneous snap judgments of you based on your personal appearance, demeanor, facial expressions, and, of course, her mood. Most of these factors you can control, so take pre-emptive action on them to ensure success.
Building rapport properly creates a bond like strong glue that can withstand minor inconvenience and even some misunderstanding.
Rapport allows a person to say and do things that only close friends can do, because he or she is brought into that inner circle of trust. It is a powerful force without which salespeople, friendships, employment, and many other situations are much more difficult.
Remember Chapter 4 on pretexting? You learned that pretexting is more than just playing a part, it is living, being, and becoming the person you are portraying to the target. Having a strong pretext is imperative to building the right kind of rapport. In many social engineering engagements you will not have the time to build a storyline and use long-term seduction or rapport techniques, so your success will be based on many of the non-verbal things you will need to do.
Using Other Rapport-Building Techniques
Other rapport-building techniques exist that are based in NLP research. As you now know, rapport is basically connecting with someone and putting him or her at ease; some NLP techniques used by hypnotists and NLP practitioners can put people at ease instantly, as discussed next.
Breathing at the Same Rate as Your Target
Breathing at the same rate as someone doesn’t mean you closely listen to every breath and try to breathe in and out when your target does. But some people have very defined breathing patterns: Some have fast and short breathing, and some have long and deep breathing. Notice how the target breathes and mirror that pattern, but without parroting (that is, doing it at the same exact time).
Matching Your Target’s Vocal Tone and Speech Pattern
I was born in New York and raised in an Italian family. I talk fast, loud, and with my hands. In addition to being 75 percent Italian, I am 25 percent Hungarian. I am big, tall, and loud and gesture like a professional sign language translator on speed. If I approach a timid, shy, slow-talking southerner I can kill rapport if