How did he know about Becky? - Compliance (2012) Discussion

[–] SillyGayBoy 11 years ago

Have to rewatch but I think

"Short young girl at the front"
"Becky?"
"I have her as Rebecca".

I saw it last night this is what I remember. Also he said she had a criminal record and backtracked when she didn't, and he guessed correctly she had a brother but could have backtracked that too. He also only wanted the manager to know the brother was selling drugs. He made sure only she knew that.

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[–] gimmedacash 11 years ago

He didn't know her, but he did see her. We see the caller drknking from a paper cup that seems to be from the retaurant chain. He only tells the manager "young blonde woman about 19". Sandra is the one one who says Becky, which the called correctly assumes is short for Rebecca. He didn't know her brother had run-ins with the law, until Becky told him so. The only name he knew was the regional manager, which he probably found out beforehand.

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[–] Screen_Queen 10 years ago

Agreed. I just find it hard to believe they put that plastic cup in there coincidentally, when he was making food at home and could have eaten at home. If I remember correctly the real life as$hole didn't actually visit the restaurant, but I think they placed it in the movie as a kind of clue. It's just way too relevant to be a coincidence for me. That and, as others have stated, cold calling techniques. Like when he asked Becky if she had any siblings and she replied she had a brother, and he used that as the whole basis for his drug story to convince Sandra to willingly help.

We're running around like we don't care
It's gonna leave its mark somewhere.

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[–] ilovetohateyou 10 years ago

He doesn't know about Becky at all. He is just a man calling up fast food places using cold reading type techniques and an authoritative tone in order to prey upon people's susceptibility to blindly follow authority, even as the "authority" slowly escalates the oddness/ridiculousness of the requests that they are making.

He doesn't know Becky, he doesn't know the manager, he doesn't know anyone, and he is hundreds of miles away.

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[–] maxi_man 10 years ago

He knew she was 19 and blonde I dont believe in that kind of coincidence

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[–] diabetesman88 10 years ago

He didn't actually know anything about any of the employees there. Like the one poster said he is using cold reading techniques that people like "mediums" use. He chose 19 because that is a normal, average age for minimal wage workers at fast food restaurants. He said blonde because it is an educated guess that a blonde woman would work there. If the manager had said no one like there works there he would have just hung up. He never used any specifics beyond that. The manager was the one that gave the name and just assumed he was talking about Becky.

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[–] MuchToBeGratefulFor 10 years ago

He knew she was 19 and blonde I dont believe in that kind of coincidence

LOL, this is how gullible people get fooled. The caller didn't know anything. He gave a description which there is a pretty good chance of an employee of a fast food chain meeting -- a young blonde. If there hadn't been anyone there that met the description, he would have hung up and tried somewhere else. But in this case, there was someone that met that description, and the manager told him that the young woman's name was Becky. Then he said, "correct, I have Rebecca" but that was BS. Then the manager thinks he is for real because he "confirmed" that Becky was the person he was looking for, but he only knew what the manager told him.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

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[–] kascha-klaussen 10 years ago

That's just straight out social engineering. The manager took his partial description and filled in the blanks as a matter of response to suggestion.

Pretty rudimentary technique based on normal human response. Say "Marco" and 8 of 10 people will automatically respond with "Polo".

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[–] Rilchiam-1 9 years ago

Right, and he taunted Becky that the victim "described you exactly". Except, how could he know it was an exact description? He couldn't see Becky!

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[–] bigal_a 9 years ago

I suspect he'd been in the restaurant before, and the rest was just simple cold reading.

The restitution of life is no great feat. A variety of deaths may well enter into your punishment

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[–] ragnarok-1 9 years ago

Not necessarily.

The film is based upon a series of prank calls made by a man in Panama City, FL to a number of stores and restaurants around the U.S. The movie most closely resembles a case in Washington state which is the one where the perpetrator was caught, but failed to be convicted.

As others have suggested he was skilled at employing techniques where by providing a little bit of information an individual will supply supporting information that, in their mind, lends credence to the original statement despite its lack of specificity.

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[–] bigal_a 9 years ago

I don't think he knew her name, just that there was a small blonde assistant in there, Alternatively, it could be that he pulled the same trick on a number of restaurants until he found one with a small young blonde girl.

Him saying, "Oh, yes, we had her down as Rebecca" when the supervisor said her name was Becky. That's classic cold reading "I knew all along" hokum.

The restitution of life is no great feat. A variety of deaths may well enter into your punishment

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[–] The-Last-Prydonian 9 years ago

I don't think he knew her name, just that there was a small blonde assistant in there, Alternatively, it could be that he pulled the same trick on a number of restaurants until he found one with a small young blonde girl.

Him saying, "Oh, yes, we had her down as Rebecca" when the supervisor said her name was Becky. That's classic cold reading "I knew all along" hokum.

This is so true. So called spiritual mediums employ similar techniques when attempting to convince their intended victim that they're the genuine article. “Does the letter G mean anything to you?” or “Do you know someone who's name begins with G?” This works even better when there's a huge crowd of people as logically It's a safe bet there will be. Particularly if using a common name like say David. It's surprising how many people (and I can shamefully include myself) fall for it.

Just watch a anything featuring professional paranormal debunker James Randi about further tricks used by these con-artists. It's really quite fascinating if not a bit scary to see how so many people can be so easily duped.

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