In her amazing book The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI (Get it from Amazon), author Betty Medsger sheds light into the secret details of the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI. And even though the book is fascinating in its entirety, it’s one small, hilarious story about a social engineering hack that caught our eye.
As strange as it may sound, in 1971, the group’s activists were able to steal records from the FBI simply by leaving a note on the front door of the Delaware office that said “Please don’t lock this door tonight”!
Here’s the relevant excerpt from the book: (the article continues after the ad)
As burglars, they used some unusual techniques, ones Davidon enjoyed recalling years later, such as what some of them did in 1970 at a draft board office in Delaware. During their casing, they had noticed that the interior door that opened to the draft board office was always locked. There was no padlock to replace, as they had done at a draft board raid in Philadelphia a few months earlier, and no one in the group was able to pick the lock. The break-in technique they settled on at that office must be unique in the annals of burglary. Several hours before the burglary was to take place, one of them wrote a note and tacked it to the door they wanted to enter: “Please don’t lock this door tonight.” Sure enough, when the burglars arrived that night, someone had obediently left the door unlocked. The burglars entered the office with ease, stole the Selective Service records, and left. They were so pleased with themselves that one of them proposed leaving a thank-you note on the door. More cautious minds prevailed. Miss Manners be damned, they did not leave a note.
Can you imagine that happening to the FBI today?
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Guy Wrote A Paper On How To Build A Nuclear Bomb That Was So Good, It Was Seized By The FBI
Main Article Photo: LeoFra / Pixabay, Plymouth Voice
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
Sources: Social-engineering the FBI in 1971
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