Assuming that a jurisdiction has prohibited pretexting with financial institutes, which of the following actions would constitute illegal pretexting?

Pretexting is the act of obtaining nonpublic, personal information through false pretenses, such as impersonation or deceit. Falsely claiming to be the spouse of an account holder to persuade a bank employee to disclose confidential bank records is a direct example of using a false pretext to access protected financial information. Laws like the U.S. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) specifically prohibit using false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements to obtain customer information from a financial institution or its customers.

A. Withdrawing another person's funds using a stolen bank account number and PIN: This is theft or unauthorized access, not pretexting, as it does not involve deceiving a person to obtain information.
B. Digging through a person's trash to obtain their bank account information: This is "dumpster diving." While it is a method of information gathering, it does not involve impersonation or false pretenses directed at a person.
C. Making purchases with a credit card account under a fictitious identity: This is credit card fraud. The deception is aimed at a merchant to complete a transaction, not at a financial institution to obtain information.

ACFE. (2023). Fraud Examiners Manual, International Edition. Section 2.304, "Pretexting." The manual defines pretexting as obtaining information by falsehood or deception and notes that the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes it illegal to obtain customer information from financial institutions by pretext.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), 15 U.S.C. § 6821, "Privacy and security of consumer financial information." This section makes it illegal to obtain or attempt to obtain customer information of a financial institution by making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement.

Singleton, T. W. (2010). Fraud Auditing and Forensic Accounting (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 5, "Evidence Collection and Evaluation," discusses pretexting as an investigative technique and the legal limitations, particularly under GLBA.