Social Engineering and Kevin Mitnick are two very abuzz phenomenon these days. By social engineering, one implies the following:
Social Engineering uses influence and persuasion to deceive people by convincing them that the social engineer is someone he is not, or by manipulation. As a result, the social engineer is able to take advantage of people to obtain information with or without the use of technology.
Kevin Mitnick is / was one of the best social engineers around. So much so that the US law enforcement agencies had to put him behind bars for the stuff he did, which he always claimed was just out of curiosity, and not of any malicious intent. The point is, he know what he did, has accepted it, and probably does not regret it. He has written two books (maybe more, I know of only two) titled The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion.
Both come highly recommeded, and worth a read for anyone who cares about themselves not being ripped off by any social engineer, which means, in other words, practically everybody.