Gullibility

[Visla Eraclaire]

So, I was having a conversation with a colleague of mine about an event that is not so recent, but it happened to come up. I don't know if anyone remembers the less than well intentioned prank call scam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_prank_call_scam) perpetrated against various rural fast food restaurants. Honestly, though it is extremely NWS, the ED article (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Louise_Ogborn) actually gives a much better rundown and includes a clip from a tv news segment about it.

The basic story is: Someone calls and tells you they are either your superior within your work organization or the cops. They tell you to do things that anyone with a shred of sanity should know are not permissible. And yet tons of people complied, one with extreme gusto in the above case.

I was not shocked, really. I don't really think much of the average person, and so it doesn't surprise me that they'd do heinous things if they had an authority figure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millgram_experiment) telling them to do it. My colleague was more surprised that people are genuinely that ignorant of what police can and cannot do, even presuming they believed the unsupported assertion that the person on the phone was the police at all.

So, general questions, how gullible are people? Is this a fluke or do you think it's pretty commonplace? How far do you think people are willing to go based on a bare claim of authority?

The topic seems especially appropriate right after April Fools Day. Feel free to tell some stories of people you tricked. Hopefully they will be somewhat less serious than the cited examples.

[Yari Rafanas]

While I feel bad for the people who had their rights violated and whatnot, I still think they need to take a step back and learn some common sense. Had I been in the position where authorities were talking to me over the phone and feeding me bullshit, I would have told them to call my manager/district leader or to fuck off. There is no reason I need to waste my time with something like that. In addition, authorities should know the proper fucking channels to send their complaints/orders/whatever so anybody dumb enough to strip naked for a dude over the phone or something should really take a moment to watch how the world really works.

There's a reason they're working at fast food joints. Maybe eventually they'll catch on and move onto better shit.

[Witchblade]

I don't really know anything about these pranks calls, probably because I live in Canada and this took place in the U.S. All I know is that I would certainly never fall for someone telling me to do some stupid shit like that and calling themselves my superior. I'd probably laugh and ask them if they're joking or not and if they said no, put them through to one of the managers on staff. The fact that so many people fell for something like that is mind boggling to me, I mean yeah, I know some gullible people and I've gotten away with a few things that were blatently not true, but I dunno... just seems kind of ridiculous to me.

[Sorahn]

Oh no I've long since feared for the future of humanity. There are some really gullible people out there. I remember reading somewhere that some students sought to see how gullible freshmen were by making a website warning of the evils of Styrofoam because it contained "Dihydrogen monoxide" (H2O) and a city in California was close to signing a bill banning Styrofoam because of it.

[Arsène]

I'd really like to know what the prank caller said to convince the Assistant Manager's fiance to force the girl to give him a blow job. The girl was stupid, that's a given. But what man in his right mind could think a real officer would be telling him to get a BJ as part of a criminal investigation.

[Visla Eraclaire]

I'd really like to know what the prank caller said to convince the Assistant Manager's fiance to force the girl to give him a blow job. The girl was stupid, that's a given. But what man in his right mind could think a real officer would be telling him to get a BJ as part of a criminal investigation.

"Uh, sir, many suspects are known to conceal contraband in their mouths. You're going to need to get in there and check it out... with your penis. Penis is the most sensitive to figure this thing out. Trust me, I'm a cop."

[Christoph]

That's my kind of criminal investigation.