LinkedIn is a pretty popular place to find jobs and recruit other people for jobs. It is a great place to get started and find your first job or employee. You can build your own profile for recruiters or job seekers to find you with ease. It is essentially the job marketplace for everyone.
However, LinkedIn also has its own issues. There have been some reports of users getting scammed on LinkedIn. Many users are still in delusion whether or not you can be scammed on LinkedIn. In this article, we will answer this very question and help you against LinkedIn scams.
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Common LinkedIn Scams
As we all know, LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media sites for job hunting, networking, and professional growth. As LinkedIn’s primary focus is on professional networking where several scammers find LinkedIn to be an appealing target. Unlike any other social media platforms, LinkedIn users often have their educational history as we are related to organizations that are mainly displayed on their profiles, where such scammers can easily exploit for their advantage.
That’s why it’s necessary to be careful of such scammers when you feel that someone isn’t for your type or sending continuous messages to fulfill their goals. However, some scammers also force you to join their community group and ask for personal details related to back and much more. Here are some common LinkedIn scams to be aware of:
1. Phishing and Spoofing Scams
Phishing and spoofing are a widespread issue on the LinkedIn platform which is one of the major social attacks that most of the scammers send messages or email that appears to come from a reasonable source like offering jobs or providing partnership opportunities. However, these messages often contain personal information and links to malicious sites. The scammers often ask for sensitive personal information such as login credentials or financial details.
Additionally, these LinkedIn phishing scams they over send with emails may look like authentic messages and even direct users to a fake LinkedIn login page. However, the page includes login credentials and once you enter the login credentials then it will automatically download malware or viruses onto your device. Therefore, it’s necessary to avoid these common messages from the LinkedIn application.
How to Protect Yourself: If you find yourself getting messages from a client who you don’t know and they immediately ask to login credentials by clicking on the link they have provided in the email or messages, it is probably from the scammers. In such a case, you should be aware of such a scam and don’t provide any sensitive personal information.
Make sure to verify the authenticity of messages that you received from the client, especially if their requests are related to personal or financial information. Plus, you have to verify the links you have received through emails or messages and check the destination URL before clicking on it. If you are in doubt, then contact the supposes sender directly through a trusted channel to confirm the message’s legitimacy.
2. Fake Job Offers Scams
Another common type of LinkedIn scam is the fake job offers scams, where several users have already been targeted. As the name suggests, usually fake job offers scams involve various activities including criminals creating a fake LinkedIn company and they are targeting especially those who are looking for a job in their locality.
Additionally, some scammers often post fake job listings to collect some application fees as well as personal information. Apart from that, other scammers offer high-rate paying jobs that require an upfront payment for equipment. Therefore, it’s essential to avoid these common and fake job offers if you feel that you are getting targeted.
How to Protect Yourself: It’s most essential to protect yourself from such fake job offers scams. Ensure to do a proper research of the company from where you get the job offers. However, legitimate employers won’t ask for upfront payments and personal data before taking an interview. If anything looks to be too good to be true then proceed with caution, however, when you find that the company offers fake jobs, ensure to report the suspicious job postings to LinkedIn.
3. Connection Requests from Unknown Profiles
The creation of fake profiles is one of the other most common LinkedIn scams and several users encountered this issue on LinkedIn. However, scammers act as more professionals, while they use pictures that were stolen and job descriptions which are copied from professional profiles.
Oftentimes, most scammers did a trick by sending connection requests to people who might not be suspicious and once they are connected with unknown profiles, then scammers often use these fake profiles to carry out several illegal actions such as promoting investment scams or spreading phishing links. It’s essential to avoid these fake identities and unknown profiles before getting targeted.
How To Protect Yourself: It’s crucial to take a strong decision to verify unknown profiles if you get any job offer from the client or a person who you don’t know personally on LinkedIn. Make sure to review profiles by looking carefully at the description, profile picture and included links. Also, look for red flags like incomplete profile information or mismatched job histories. If you don’t find these details completely or you feel that it’s a red flag then immediately report the suspicious accounts to LinkedIn.
4. Technical Support Scams
A scammer notifies you that there has been an issue with your LinkedIn account, via a LinkedIn message and email. These LinkedIn scams are also known as technical assistance scams – a sort of fraud where fake IT personnel contact the clients to obtain personal information and data.
In technical support scams, scammers often ask for personal information by targeting the clients via email, claiming that their LinkedIn account has some minor issues and glitches. These scams are found in a wide range in the society, where several clients have shared their personal data by clicking on the link like phishing scams.
Generally, scammers will notify victims of the issue and then they ask to click on the provided link to fix it. Once users click on this phishing link then it will be taken to you on another page and have code loaded onto the flash memory of their device. Once they get access, scammers can perform a number of malicious activities such as obtaining login information and sharing viruses to your device.
Sometimes, the scammers use proxy email addresses to pose as LinkedIn or other legitimate tech support teams, however this kind of LinkedIn scam is more difficult to detect. If you find yourself being targeted by scammers, immediately report them. Here’s how you can protect yourself by recognizing the scam.
How to Protect Yourself: If you experience a technical issue on LinkedIn, you should try yourself to resolve the problem. Well, you can easily find out the scams or frauds by pointing out some errors or mistakes. If you see messages regarding issues on LinkedIn, ensure to report them right away because LinkedIn won’t try to contact you by email.
Additionally, if you get an email from LinkedIn with a URL link that takes you to an unknown and innocuous login page then there’s a red flag. Make sure to report them immediately and log in to the official site to check for notifications. Moreover, LinkedIn does not charge for customer support and it will never ask you for personal data and information like password.
5. Chinese Pig Butchering Scams
Chinese pig butchering is a type of fraud that takes advantage of people’s desire to make more money with cryptocurrency trading. This kind of scam is most common especially in China, where it is called “Shz Hán,” which directly translates to “pig butchering.” But, no animals are harmed during this scam process.
However, this scam often begins with a stranger that will initiate a connection request before “accidentally” messaging you and mistaking you for another strong connection. Once they have gained your trust then the scam will put a lot of effort into developing a connection and then they will explain to you about an investment app they’re using.
It’s one of the common scams but still several users accept the client’s word and they’re ready to invest money in trading. It’s necessary to be careful of such scammers who force you to invest money in trading or cryptocurrency.
How to Protect Yourself: If you receive a LinkedIn message from an unknown person or client that you don’t know, then ensure to be cautious if you get this type of message. However, the main red flag to look for with this scam is the suggestions of cryptocurrency trading or investment sites. Plus, don’t invest money in trading until or unless you completely find yourself that the company is authorized and secure.
Identify and Report LinkedIn Scams
Most scammers frequent LinkedIn because it’s one of the popular and trusted platforms where several users are connected with each other in terms of personalization, networking, job searching and much more. However, compared to frauds conducted on other social platforms like Facebook and Telegram, whereas social engineering attempts on LinkedIn are generally more successful.
It’s essential to be careful with such scams on LinkedIn, because here the majority of scammers are elaborate in a wide range, sharing the phishing links to the clients via email and LinkedIn messages. To avoid falling victims to a LinkedIn fraud then it’s crucial to find out such scammers who ask for personal information. It is also essential to be able to differentiate fake profiles from the real deal. Therefore, here’s how you can identify and report LinkedIn scams.
Lead with suspicion: It’s essential to be more cautious before extremely trusting on any specific app you are using on your device. The best way to find out such scams is to look out for telltale warning flags like language mistakes and common errors that usually happens with most scammers while creating descriptions or sending emails.
Verify the details: It’s necessary to verify the details once you receive a message from an unknown person or client and you don’t know who the person is. Therefore, if you received a message from an unknown person, ensure to check the full details. While a profile may look legit at first glance and that’s why it’s necessary to check the profiles. Make sure to check for gaps or inconsistencies in the educational histories and professionals.
Minor activity: Most of the scammers on the LinkedIn platform won’t be active as regular members. Therefore, if the profile doesn’t include any information about the company and they don’t actively participate much or even then it’s likely to be a fake profile. In such a case, you should immediately take action or report the profile as soon as possible.
Therefore, these are some of the tricks that you can use to easily find out scammers on the LinkedIn platform. If you find suspicious accounts or if any unknown person sends you a message and it contains a phishing link then don’t respond to it until or unless you completely verify the user on LinkedIn.
In case you have noticed any suspicious accounts or someone forcing you to invest money in cryptocurrency trading, ensure to report it immediately. Make sure to verify the details and other information like links on the profile, profile photo, and even a description. If you feel that the account is fake or doing illegal actions or activities, then immediately report them.
Precautions and Warnings
You should be cautious when using LinkedIn as a professional networking tool. Keep your residence address, phone number, bank account info, and other personal details out of your profile and public posts. Only those who have earned your trust should have access to this information, and even then, only over encrypted methods.
Safeguard Personal Information
Never provide private papers, social security numbers, or credit card information on LinkedIn. Identity scammers and fraudsters frequently scour publicly available profiles for sensitive information.
Be cautious with your disclosures and keep private information safe. If you want to restrict who can see your LinkedIn profile and what information they can see, use the platform’s privacy settings.
It’s important to check and tweak your privacy settings on a regular basis to make sure they still suit your personal and business needs. Two-factor authentication adds another degree of protection against account hacking; use it.
Don’t accept every request for a connection. Before initiating a connection with someone, make sure their profile is legitimate. Limit who can see your connections, contacts, and other sensitive information by setting privacy settings. Always strike a balance between expanding your professional network and protecting your privacy.
Verify and Authenticate Contacts
Check the authenticity of profiles and make sure they match the person’s stated identification and work experience. Check for a full profile, including relevant employment experience, established relationships, and a polished headshot.
It is better to play things safe and say no if you have any doubts about a request. Send a friendly message to a potential new connection asking if they’re interested in making contact.
In most cases, legitimate professionals will give some kind of explanation for why they need to connect. Before accepting an offer, strike up a conversation with them to see whether or not you can trust them. Verify the details of a LinkedIn profile with other sources, such as the company’s website, the individual’s other social media pages, or industry-specific websites.
Examine the candidate’s job titles, education, and work history for consistency. Authentic profiles usually show a pattern of ongoing participation and contribution to the user’s professional network.
Always go with your gut and put your personal security and privacy first. Trust your instincts and deny a connection request or message if you get the impression that there’s anything strange about it. Avoid becoming a victim of a scam or compromising your security by being cautious and guarding your sensitive information.
Final Words
LinkedIn is one of the popular social sites that allows the users to connect with each other. It also offers multiple opportunities for professional growth, networking, job searching, and much more. However, it’s crucial to remain vigilant against potential scams. By being cautious, verifying profiles and checking the description and common errors or mistakes, you can enjoy the best benefits of the LinkedIn platform.
However, if you find yourself being targeted by scammers then immediately report him without contacting the person or sharing the personal information and data who you don’t know. By staying aware and using online safety, you may safeguard yourself from falling prey to LinkedIn scams and such frauds. That’s all about the LinkedIn scam and how you can protect yourself from such scammers on LinkedIn.