Pretexting

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which best describes pretexting?

A Sending thousands of identical emails with a dodgy link in them

B Inventing a believable story or identity to talk someone into giving up information or access

2. A caller says, 'Hi, I'm from the school IT help desk. I need your password to fix your account.' What is this?

A Pretexting: the caller is pretending to be IT support

B Normal practice: IT support always asks for passwords

3. Which is the safer response to the 'IT support' caller?

A Hang up and contact IT using the number on the school website

B Give the password so the problem gets fixed faster

4. A stranger in a delivery uniform says, 'I have a parcel for the office, just let me in the back door.' Which is a pretext?

A The delivery driver story is made up to get past the door

B The uniform proves the person is a real delivery driver

5. Why do pretexters often chat in a friendly way or share small facts before they ask for anything?

A Because they have no plan and are making small talk

B To build trust so the final request feels normal

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1pretexting		A"Loved your school's sports day! By the way, what's your student ID?"
2"Hi, it's Sam from IT. Please read me your password."		BPretending to be IT support to get a login
3Pretending to be a delivery driver to get through a locked door		C"Parcel for Level 3! Can you buzz me in?"
4Building trust before the ask: chatting first, then requesting information		DLetting a friendly stranger in without checking their identity or reason. Friendliness is how trust is built, so visitors should be verified and escorted.
5"The caller knew my name and said he was from IT, so I gave him my password."		ETrusting a caller just because they sound official and know some details. Attackers can research names, so the identity must be checked first, for example by hanging up and calling the real IT help desk.
6"The delivery driver seemed friendly, so I let him walk into the office alone."		FInventing a believable story or fake identity to talk someone into handing over information or access

Definitions

pretexting

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

_______ = "IT support"

trust = 0 for step in range(3): trust __ 1

__ trust > 2: print("Can you confirm your password?")

___________ = False if not is_verified: print("Hang up and call back")

_________ = "delivery driver" print("I am a " + fake_role)

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A caller = "IT support"

B goal = "get the password"

C if trust_built = True:

D victim_gives_info = True

Question 2

A attack_type = "pretexting

B fake_role = "delivery driver"

C print(attack_type, fake_role)

Question 3

A def intro(name):

B return "IT here, " name

C msg = intro("Sam")

D print(msg)

Question 4

A role = "delivery driver"

B story = "I am a " - role

C print(story)

Question 5

A steps = []

B steps.append("pick a role")

C steps.append("build trust")

D steps.append("ask for data"

E print(len(steps))

Answer Key

Pretexting

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Inventing a believable story or identity to talk someone into giving up information or access

A — Pretexting: the caller is pretending to be IT support

A — Hang up and contact IT using the number on the school website

A — The delivery driver story is made up to get past the door

B — To build trust so the final request feels normal

Section B: Match the Pairs

pretexting → Inventing a believable story or fake identity to talk someone into handing over information or access

"Hi, it's Sam from IT. Please read me your password." → Pretending to be IT support to get a login

Pretending to be a delivery driver to get through a locked door → "Parcel for Level 3! Can you buzz me in?"

Building trust before the ask: chatting first, then requesting information → "Loved your school's sports day! By the way, what's your student ID?"

"The caller knew my name and said he was from IT, so I gave him my password." → Trusting a caller just because they sound official and know some details. Attackers can research names, so the identity must be checked first, for example by hanging up and calling the real IT help desk.

"The delivery driver seemed friendly, so I let him walk into the office alone." → Letting a friendly stranger in without checking their identity or reason. Friendliness is how trust is built, so visitors should be verified and escorted.

Section C: Definitions

pretexting — Inventing a believable story or fake identity, like IT support or a delivery driver, to build trust and talk someone into handing over information or access.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

pretext = "IT support"

trust = 0
for step in range(3):
    trust += 1

if trust > 2:
    print("Can you confirm your password?")

is_verified = False
if not is_verified:
    print("Hang up and call back")

fake_role = "delivery driver"
print("I am a " + fake_role)

Section E: Spot the Error

C — A single = assigns a value, so it cannot be used to test a condition. The comparison needs ==: if trust_built == True:

A — The string is missing its closing quote. It should be attack_type = "pretexting"

B — The fake IT introduction and the name must be joined with +. It should be return "IT here, " + name

B — Strings are joined with + (concatenation), not -. The attacker's story should be built with story = "I am a " + role

D — The closing bracket of append() is missing. It should be steps.append("ask for data")