12.05.2025
Social engineering
Disclaimer#
This guide is for informational purposes only. The author does NOT encourage any illegal activity. Always check local laws and regulations.
Introduction#
Social engineering is a skill of talking to people. It comes from the cyber security world, and it is used to manipulate people into doing things they wouldn't normally do.
Hackers are lazy, and they don't always break the system, they just exploit the human factor and get access to the system.
In urbex, we can use this skill to either get information about the place or, when caught by someone, leave the place with fewer to zero charges.
Let's start on the ground level.
Human Psychology#
First, we need to understand how humans think and behave. After that, we can think about how to use that in our favor.
We recommend reading the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Since most of you probably won't read it, we will go through some of its points here.
1. Body language#
Before you say anything, your body speaks for you. That's why it's important to be aware of your body language and to watch out for the other person's body language too.
Body language includes movement, posture, gestures, facial expressions, and even eye contact. Also, there is this thing called "aura", it could sound more like a meme, but it's for real, and sometimes you can feel that something is off about the other person from the very first moment.
2. Clothing#
After body language, the next thing humans judge others by is their clothing. That, of course, doesn't mean that you need to wear a business suit when exploring a construction site.
What you wear should be appropriate for the situation. For example, when exploring a construction site, you might wear a cloak of invisibility.
3. Conversation#
Now, after both your body and clothing have spoken for you, it's time for your mouth to do its job, or maybe more like your ears, because people are mostly self-interested.
When you get caught by a security guard, he won't be interested in your part of the story, he will be interested in himself because HE has to deal with you, HE has to write a report, HE has to call the cops, etc.
So, you should be interested in HIS part of the story too. Tell him what he wants to hear, that you don't want to bother HIM with HIS paperwork, HIS time, etc.
It's different with police because their job is to be interested in your part of the story, but the point of this is to not get into this situation at all. Always be polite, friendly, don't argue, and cooperate/negotiate with them.
Application#
Now that we know the basics of human psychology, let's see how we can apply it in urbex.
Information is key#
Before going to explore a new place, try getting information from more sources. Besides browsing the web, you can try to ask locals about the place, if possible.
When doing so, always be polite and friendly, try to ask about the place without raising any suspicion, like asking questions related to the history, surroundings, and all that stuff. Asking without raising suspicion means you shouldn't straight up ask about the security guard's schedule or something like that. It's also probable that they won't know that too.
If you want to keep the conversation going, ask open questions.
Your story, your character#
This is probably the most important part of the whole thing because it can affect the outcome of the whole situation.
You should always have a story to tell and character to play. It can be anything, but make sure it's believable and consistent, especially when exploring in a group.
For example, when you are exploring a construction site, it's not a good idea to be lurking quietly and giving each other hand signals and then tell that you are a photographer. You should be acting like a photographer, even talking about some fake topic that comes to your mind.
As an exercise before going in, you can try to ask yourself or your friends a question like, "When a security guard shows up right now, what would you say to him?".
General advice for this is to not lie more than you have to, it will keep you from mixing your story up and getting caught in your lies.
Leaving uncharged#
In this part, we will show different scenarios of getting caught and how to handle them using the knowledge we learned so far.
It's also good to mention that if you are not sure you will be able to run away, it's always better not to run at all because the chances of getting low or zero charges are much lower after that.
Locals#
When you get caught by a local, just tell them that you are exploring the place, or taking pictures, and that you are not a threat. If they ask you to leave, just do it. You should be glad that they didn't call the cops.
You can get back to the place anytime later if you want to.
Security guard#
Security guards are just doing their job, and you do them a favor if you cooperate with them and don't act like a trespasser.
As said in the conversation section, imagine being in their position, you are chilling, and all of a sudden you hear someone or see on cameras. Probably not a thing you want to deal with at the moment, so that's why you should express your understanding, excuse yourself, and tell them you are leaving.
Police#
Probably the worst-case scenario, you can get into this situation in two ways:
- You set off an alarm and the security guard called the cops
- Someone saw you and they called the cops
In both cases, once caught by policemen, you will end up in the same situation, and now it's NOT the time to lie because if you do, and they find out, you can be sure you will be charged.
Rather, do their job for them again. Accuse yourself, tell them that you are really sorry, that you didn't want to bother THEM or ANYONE else, that you will never do it again, and you are really sorry for the trouble.
Basically, the psychology behind this is that you said what they would tell you. Believe it or not, it works.
Conclusion#
We hope you enjoyed this guide on a slightly different topic. Social engineering is a big topic, and we would like to cover it more in the future.
If you have questions or your own stealth tips, feel free to slide into our Instagram DMs!
Remember to stay safe and have fun!
Sources#
- "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie
