Social engineering (non-IT)

This was in a comment in Scheiers blog.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...WS01/510090392

It's quite a long story.
It's so outrageous I find it hard to believe.

Quote:

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At first, scam seemed too bizarre but then the reports kept coming in

The first report of such a call came in 1995, in Devil's Lake, N.D.; another came later that year in Fallon, Nev. The caller, usually pretending to be a police officer investigating a crime, targeted stores in small towns and rural communities -- areas where managers were more likely to be trusting.

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Quote:

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On Nov. 30, 2000, the caller persuaded the manager at a McDonald's in Leitchfield, Ky., to remove her own clothes in front of a customer whom the caller said was suspected of sex offenses. The caller promised that undercover officers would burst in and arrest the customer the moment he attempted to molest her, said Detective Lt. Gary Troutman of the Leitchfield Police Department.

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The blog story is also worth a read:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archive..._bank_con.html