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The Seven Basic Cons -or- The Seven Main Principles of Social Engineering. These seven principles are manipulation at its most basic form. All cons, tactics, strategies and manipulations can be reduced to one of these. Often, Social Engineering attacks or con games will use more than one, but you'll find that over it reduces to one principle or multiple attacks using one principle each. It can be argued that all security attacks use these principles (for example, trojans use the deception principle). **The distraction principle:** While you are distracted by what retains your interest, hustlers can do anything to you and you won’t notice. **The social compliance principle:** Most civilized culture trains people to adhere to perceived societal rules. Social Engineers know how to use social pressures and our desire to fit in against out better judgement. **The herd principle:** Even suspicious marks will let their guard down when everyone next to them appears to share the same risks. Safety in numbers? Not if they’re all conspiring against you. **The dishonesty principle:** Anything illegal you do will be used against you by the fraudster, making it harder for you to seek help once you realize you’ve been had. The best cons have you doing all his/her dirty work. **The deception principle:** Things and people are not what they seem. Hustlers know how to manipulate you to make you believe that they are. **The need and greed principle:** Your needs and desires make you vulnerable. Once hustlers know what you really want, they can easily manipulate you. **The Time principle:** When you are under time pressure to make an important choice, you use a different decision strategy. Hustlers steer you towards a strategy involving less reasoning. I have borrowed this list [from](http://www.lonegunman.co.uk/2009/12/02/seven-psychological-principles-con-artists-exploit/), with some minor corrections for accuracy (the original article, I feel, could have represented Socia

The Seven Basic Cons -or- The Seven Main Principles of Social Engineering. These seven principles are manipulation at its most basic form. All cons, tactics, strategies and manipulations can be reduced to one of these. Often, Social Engineering attacks or con games will use more than one, but you'll find that over it reduces to one principle or multiple attacks using one principle each. It can be argued that all security attacks use these principles (for example, trojans use the deception principle). **The distraction principle:** While you are distracted by what retains your interest, hustlers can do anything to you and you won’t notice. **The social compliance principle:** Most civilized culture trains people to adhere to perceived societal rules. Social Engineers know how to use social pressures and our desire to fit in against out better judgement. **The herd principle:** Even suspicious marks will let their guard down when everyone next to them appears to share the same risks. Safety in numbers? Not if they’re all conspiring against you. **The dishonesty principle:** Anything illegal you do will be used against you by the fraudster, making it harder for you to seek help once you realize you’ve been had. The best cons have you doing all his/her dirty work. **The deception principle:** Things and people are not what they seem. Hustlers know how to manipulate you to make you believe that they are. **The need and greed principle:** Your needs and desires make you vulnerable. Once hustlers know what you really want, they can easily manipulate you. **The Time principle:** When you are under time pressure to make an important choice, you use a different decision strategy. Hustlers steer you towards a strategy involving less reasoning. I have borrowed this list [from](http://www.lonegunman.co.uk/2009/12/02/seven-psychological-principles-con-artists-exploit/), with some minor corrections for accuracy (the original article, I feel, could have represented Socia