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Visibility:
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Public
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Type:
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Scams & Online Fraud
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Owner:
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Pressley Williams
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Date Created:
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3/26/2016
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City:
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Manhattan
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Address:
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Phone:
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Website:
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http://www.scambusters.org/linkedin2.html
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Email:
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pressleyw1@gmail.com
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Description:
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Scams Behind Bogus LinkedIn Job Offers
When you use the professional social network site LinkedIn, it’s easy to be flattered when someone you don’t know asks to connect with you.
After all, that’s what LinkedIn is all about — growing your network of business and professional contacts.
Plus, of course, it’s perfectly reasonable that someone you don’t know might want to link up with you if you seem to share a mutual interest or corporate activity.
And if you’re job-hunting, it’s the perfect forum to put yourself out there and promote your skills and activities.
Job ads abound and LinkedIn will even send you a regular email listing opportunities in your area of expertise.
But, like any other social network, LinkedIn is also a prime target for scammers, as we noted in an issue back in 2011: Why Scammers Target LinkedIn Users – and How to Stop Them.
Job-related scams in particular on LinkedIn have grabbed the spotlight in recent months, with a new spate of tricks aimed at identity theft, advance fee tricks or malware uploads.
The Federal Trade Commission receives an average of 20,000 complaints about job scams every year, but that may be just the tip of the iceberg, since many victims and potential victims don’t file a complaint.
Advance fee scams — where victims receive a check they have to bank before wiring a portion to a supposed third party — seem among the most common at the moment.
These range from bogus mystery shopper jobs — 300 were reported in one year on LinkedIn — to chauffeuring.
In one recent case, a woman was “hired” to drive a visiting doctor around town. She received a check for $2,350, of which $350 was supposedly her first day’s pay, with the balance to be wired to the “doctor” for his car rental. The “doctor” was, of course, the scammer.
As usual with advance fee scams, the victim wired the money before her bank declared the check was a dud and she was left out of pocket for the $2,000 she sent.
Other job-related scams include:
* Phony job-list emails, disguised to look like they came from LinkedIn. Victims who click job links in the message are usually taken to a fake site purporting to be operated by the potential employer, where they’re asked for personal information, sometimes including Social Security numbers.
* Job offers from a new LinkedIn contact with the same identity theft scheme in mind.
In this case, the crook has set up a phony profile and spammed potential victims, some of whom accept the contact request.
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