Okay, this isn’t really computer security, directly, but social engineering, identity theft, and computer security are all interrelated, so there you go.
caller: “hello, is that mr crazy fool?”
me: “maybe, maybe not.”
caller: “hi, i’m from your gas company. for security purposes, please can you confirm your address?”
me: “yes i can, but for security purposes, i need you to prove that you are indeed from the gas company before i give you any information”
caller: “yes, can you confirm your address please?”
me: “yes i can, but for security purposes, i need you to confirm that you are from the gas company. please can you confirm my account number?”
caller: “sorry, but we can’t give out confidential information until you confirm your address so that we know we’re speaking to mr crazy fool”
me: “sorry, but for security purposes i need you to confirm that you are who you say you are before i give out any confidential information”5 minutes later we still hadn’t broken the stalemate and the conversation ended. the caller was pretty flustered at the end. i’d won. i was very pleased with myself.
today the b*st*rds cut off my gas.