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Chris Hadnaggy's job is to break into banks, but he's not after money, gold or jewels.

He's hunting for information.

And he doesn't use weapons or threats of violence to get past security and into vaults.

He uses a smile and a few tricks from his tool bag of psychology and social engineering techniques.

This is one example of how it works.

If somebody gives you a compliment, you usually compliment them back.

If someone gives you a gift, you want to re-gift and give them a gift back.

When we give somebody something, they feel indebted to us.

And that feeling of indebtedness makes them want to give us something.

It's hard to believe you can simply slip past some of the toughest security on the planet.

Banks, energy facilities, multinational corporations.

But for Chris and others in his industry, social engineering,

it's part of everyday life.

Not that it doesn't come with some confronting complications.

The parking lots were being secured by armed guards on dirt bikes. So these guys are on dirt bikes in full body armor

with sawed-off shotguns at the side of their dirt bike. You're listening to All In the Mind,

I'm Sana Khadar. Today, an episode from our archives, producer James Bullen dives into the world

of social engineering and finds out which

psychology principles it builds upon and which personality traits can make you easier to engineer.

Chris Hadnaggy always had a knack for influencing people.

When I was younger, I didn't know what it was, but I always found myself in these crazy circumstances, like one of the big things, getting jobs that I had no right getting. I remember becoming a chef by literally walking into a restaurant that had a help wanted sign for a chef out. And I became an assistant chef by walking up to the guy and saying, let me cook you something. And he's like, well, what credentials do you have? I'm like, you don't need credentials when you can cook good. And he kind of laughed and he says, go ahead. I cooked him a dish and he hired me. Simple, right? But then Chris had to actually cook. He had a trick up his sleeve, though, something that's come in handy quite a few times since. And I remember the first time he said to me, hey, I want you to Julian these carrots. I was sweating bullets because I had no clue what Julianne meant. So I said, hey, listen, Bob, everybody Julianne's things different. I want to make sure I get it to your perfection. Just show me one, and then I'll do it your way. I'll mimic you. And he showed me. And I did that every time

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