The Cost of Convenience Series: Social Engineering: Impersonation, Messaging, & Relationship Fraud

Most modern fraud does not start with sophisticated hacking tools — it starts with human interaction. From impersonation scams and business email compromise to romance fraud and manipulative messaging, social engineering exploits trust, urgency, familiarity, and emotional pressure to influence behavior without raising suspicion.

In this engaging and practical session, Ashley Karr examines how social engineering tactics operate across digital communication channels including texts, emails, phone calls, social media, dating platforms, workplaces, and personal relationships. Attendees will learn how fraudsters strategically engineer trust and manipulate decision-making within environments designed for speed and constant responsiveness. The webinar also provides practical behavioral safeguards that help individuals and organizations reduce risk while maintaining normal communication habits in an increasingly connected world.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Social engineering principles and behavioral manipulation
• Impersonation scams and identity-based deception
• Business email compromise (BEC) schemes
• Relationship and romance fraud tactics
• Messaging manipulation across digital platforms
• Emotional pressure, urgency, and authority exploitation
• Trust engineering within workplace and personal communications
• Fraud risks across texts, calls, emails, and social media
• Contextual alignment and familiarity as manipulation tools
• Behavioral guardrails for reducing fraud exposure
• Human psychology and communication vulnerabilities in fraud