If you are on the lookout for a job, it is more than likely that you have a LinkedIn account. However, similar to other platforms such as WhatsApp, LinkedIn has witnessed a surge in fake job offers and phishing scams.
A recent report from NordLayer found that 56% of firms worldwide had been the target of at least one LinkedIn fraud this year.
Fake job offers are the most common scam on the network, according to the research, accounting for 48% of reported occurrences. Additionally, 48 percent of the victims of these LinkedIn scams reported that their reputation had been damaged as a result.
The research also showed that about 45% of businesses are aware of scammers using their company’s brand name on LinkedIn.
“The primary function of LinkedIn — building a career — introduces one of the most common LinkedIn scams, fake job offers. With 117 job applications submitted per second on the platform, fraudsters have an ideal environment for creating a legitimate-looking job posting to collect personal information or money," the report said.
LinkedIn phishing has become yet another well-known scam in which scammers create fake profiles in order to impersonate popular companies or professionals. These fraudsters use emails or messages to trick consumers into disclosing personal information.
“Also, receiving an invitation to connect is common on the platform. Fraud actors use this connection culture to start a conversation and share a link with malicious content expecting LinkedIn users will click on it," the report claims.
According to research, more than one-third of survey participants said they were aware of many cases of LinkedIn fraud involving the name of their company.
“Fewer organisations with LinkedIn company profiles can explain such deviation from general tendency. The rest of the respondents (47 per cent) indicated their organisation employees are likely to be engaged in a scheme," the report added.
LinkedIn has issue a statement addressing the developments:
“Maintaining a trusted and safe community has always been a top priority for us. Any fraudulent activity, including fake job postings, are a clear violation of our policies. Our automated systems pair AI with teams of experts to stop the vast majority of detected fake accounts before they appear in our community. We use technology and teams of experts to find and remove fake accounts and scams before you ever see them – 96% of detected fake accounts and 99.1% of detected spam and scams are caught and removed by our automated defences."
The company added, “We’ve also implemented new tools to enhance safety on LinkedIn, including our ‘About this profile’ feature which shows when a member joined to boost authenticity.
(With inputs from IANS)
Comments
0 comment