⚠️ FAKE Profile Alert! ⚠️ Please, Please, Please Be Careful WHO You Connect With On LinkedIn!
I bang on a lot about being careful who you connect with on LinkedIn but for good reason. Fake profiles and unscrupulous players abound on LinkedIn, even with LinkedIn ‘trying’ to spot and remove them.
Only this week, I received yet another invitation to connect from an unscrupulous player. And quite frankly I was SHOCKED 🤯
Because warning signals abounded on this person’s profile.
Not least that there was simply nothing on it . . . Zip, Nada, Nothing.
No About, no Experience no Featured, no Header banner. They’d not even tried to hide their profile by linking it to a company with lots of employees.
BUT,
⚠️ 1747 people had connected
⚠️ 32 of which are mutual 1st degree connections
⚠️ And the photo was dodgy having been used 54 times according Tineye
So why have so many people connected to Rebecca?
LinkedIn is considered to be the most trusted social media platform. That means that when we receive an invitation to connect, we tend to accept them as bone fide, especially those with shared mutual connections as it makes us feel far more comfortable accepting those connections requests, and therefore don’t do our due diligence by properly checking them out.
Growing an engaged network is key to success on LinkedIn.
So. . . don’t please don’t just push ‘accept’ when a new invitation to connect comes in. Do your due diligence and protect the integrity of your network from unscrupulous players!
What are these fake LinkedIn profiles achieving?
Malicious accounts are looking to collect contact lists and details like email addresses and phone numbers. They could also be promoting fake job listings, luring job seekers with interesting prospects and encouraging them to click on a link or download a file containing malware.
I also read a really interesting article in NPR that said these fake profiles were drumming up business for companies, by sending messages to potential customers, and then anyone who takes the bait is connected to a ‘real’ salesperson.
The bottom line . . . is pay attention to protect your personal information and assets, AND at the same time, you keep other users safe from fake profiles using you as a lure.
What the steps I take when someone sends me a connection request, to make sure as best I can that the person I am accepting in my network is a real person.
We are never going to get 100% but we can try our best to minimise it.
If you suspect you’ve been invited to connect by a fake profile, then please report and ignore and move on!
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💙 If LinkedIn isn’t working hard for you or you’re not sure where to start with using LinkedIn, email judy@judithparsons.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat about how I can help.
Or book a virtual brew here and let’s make LinkedIn work for you . . . ⭐
