Pretexting is an art. Well, done correctly, it is an art. So what is it, and if it’s so good, why shouldn’t I do it?
In essence, pretexting is constructing a lie to achieve a specific goal. Let’s take a real world example. You’re trying to get into a popular bar, but really don’t want to wait in the queue for an hour. So you walk straight to the door and say to the security officer “I just came out, but I’ve left my cardigan in there. Can I just run back in and grab it?”. What you’ve done is created a pretext; a constructed scenario to achieve a particular goal. Now whether it works or not depends on a whole range of variables; did you deliver your line in a believable manner? Is there something about you or this scenario that appeals to the security officer that makes them more likely to acquiesce to your request? Is there a standard policy for the venue which deals with scenarios such as this? And the list goes on.
Translate this to the digital world, and we’ve all seen the same sorts of things. “I am a prince in a small nation you’ve never heard of. I need your help to transfer a large amount of cash out of the country and I’ll give you half of it if you help me.”
So how does this relate to social media investigations? Where people have strong privacy settings on their social media accounts, the only way to view that material is to either have access to the person’s account directly [i.e. have their credentials (username/password)] or to be a “friend” or “follower” or “Cirle of Trustee” of the person. Some unscrupulous investigators will engage in pretexting to gather that information.
The issue for lawyers and their clients is that any material uncovered in the manner is almost certainly inadmissible in any court in Australia. Moreover, such conduct will expose to challenge any other social media or online material that was collected, even if that material was publicly available. So any material gathered by pretexting is not only worthless, but could in fact harm your clients interests.
This is why we don’t use pretexting. It is unethical, and in any event, it is unlikely to advance your cause. It is our experience that if an individual has probative material in their social media account, sufficient details will “leak” to the public domain by the individuals own hand to provide support for a subpoena of protected material. Operating in this fashion provides a much greater chance of gathering material that will win your clients matter.
It should be noted that the foregoing does not apply to law enforcement and security agencies. If they want your private material, they’ll get it.
