How Not to get Scammed on LinkedIn

Most of us on LinkedIn are law-abiding and honest. Most of us try to tell the truth and own it when we screw up or make a mistake. Some very unscrupulous people are also here. Because it's not okay to call people out by name individually (that could go both ways, and no one can tell who's right and who's wrong), I'm going to give you the benefit of my experience and just call out some general traps you can fall into. Of course, each individual situation is unique, so it's meant as a general guide, not a strict set of rules. Use your own judgment. If you see them, report the profile and let their Trust and Safety team deal with them. These guidelines go for all social media platforms and Google.

Anything to do with gold

Gold is a red flag. Anytime you hear someone tell you about a gold shipment, gold samples, refining, mining rights, transport, bars, ingots, tokens, certificates, or a large amount of gold coming to them and going to you, or the need for a middleman to help, this is fraud. I'm going to save you the one time in a million when some honest person is trying to help a deceased general actually get rid of a vast gold collection and you miss out on a real opportunity. Consider anything to do with gold toxic. Always. Doesn't matter whether it's Switzerland, Uganda, Indonesia, or South Africa - a gold deal is always designed for them to win and you to lose.

Anything to do with a sweepstakes or prize money

Needless to say, you have not just won the lottery. You have not been "chosen at random," and today is not your lucky day.

Chinese Girlfriends

They always have long hair. They are the chief something officer for Chanel, Burberry, a big bank, or some other internationally known company. Lately, they are scientific experts in some exotic biotechnology. On the side, they also own a clothing or perfume company, or a beauty salon, or a retail store for stylish women. They live in a small town next to a large city in the US, and they happen to be out of town at the moment, traveling. They always have a wealthy uncle or father. They start by saying "Hello, how are you today?" and they very quickly want to continue the conversation on WhatsApp.

Once on Whatsapp, they will send you lots of photos. They send photos of themselves in different situations and on vacations. They send photos of their "work" and their meals. They'll tell you to "be careful" and "stay safe" and send you many blessings and wishes for a wonderful day. Usually divorced. They hope to find a wonderful life partner – everyone else has disappointed them, but you are special. They claim to have deep knowledge of investing and cryptocurrencies and tokens. They are nowhere near you, but they look forward to meeting once they are in your town.

Report these profiles immediately.

Social-media marketing agencies

I have learned this the hard way. There are thousands of social-media marketing companies, and I'm sure some of them are very capable. I've interviewed about 25 of them. Some specialize in a certain vertical, while others handle all kinds of clients.

I built and ran one of the world's first online design agencies. I know there are many good people working hard for their clients. But now, in the age of funnels, everyone who has read Russell Brunson's books is a funnel expert. Everyone who has read Alex Hormozi's books has a "high ticket offer" and can help you put yours together.

Some are coaches with programs, some are gurus with group coaching on Skool, some will even coach you "one-on-one" for a special price. On the other end, there are full-service agencies that cover any kind of business on any platform. The barrier to entry is very low.

Many have a "money-back guarantee." First, the FTC is starting to crack down on these guarantees, because they usually turn out to be "We'll get you x number of clients or we'll work with you for free until we do." This is not a money-back, on-demand, satisfaction guarantee. Plus, if you spend four months working with them and they get you nothing, you're out much more than what you paid them – you have to pay your living expenses and theirs at the same time. How is more of the same going to get you what you paid for?

One red flag is that they don't have a written contract. I've even seen "agencies" that refuse to give their mailing address. No written contract isn't always a sign that it's a scam, but it's a serious warning that you're not dealing with professionals. If you ask for a contract, you should get a contract. Ask for a contract.

By the way, I've seen some very poor contracts. People running agencies don't understand the law and can't afford decent lawyers. You have to read the contract. If it's a bad contract, it's a bad agency.

The general problem is nonperformance. After the sale, they take a minimal approach, give you cookie-cutter deliverables, let ChatGPT do their work, make excuses about the Facebook algorithm, and seem to not be bothered that you're not getting results. They might be lying to you. I've had agency "owners" tell me they are personally calling people back to get me clients from the funnel they created, but in the end I don't think he did almost anything he told me he was doing. I've seen fake testimonial emails from "clients" that came directly from their own email domain.

The problem is that they ask for 3-4 months of work up front as a commitment to get started. With a good agency, this is reasonable, but you shouldn't assume you're dealing with a good agency. Make sure to contact their previous clients, and make sure to validate that those are independent businesses.

Generally, I'd say somewhere around 70-80 percent of these companies are not worth working with. But if you pay by credit card and there's no contract, there's a good chance you can recover at least some of your money by requesting it from the credit-card company. You need to be very clear what happens if it doesn't work.

I can't say who I believe isn't trustworthy, but it's a long list. I can say who I think is trustworthy from either talking with, knowing, or working with them. This is a short list. I'll add more as I learn more. I can only vouch for these:

Breven Pole - LinkedIn outreach

Amna Kazmi - Marketing automation

Prateek Sanjay - Cold email

Frank Collins - cold-calling expert

Jon Penberthy - funnels, webinars, conversion

Victor Fedotov - X outreach

I've spoken with dozens of agencies. There are never any guarantees, but there are people who work to help their clients win and people who don't. If I can help you choose one that would be a good fit for you, just contact me directly.

People asking "How are you?"

Anyone on any social network who connects to you and then asks how you're doing - report that profile immediately.

Famous people contacting you

I've been contacted by Ricky Gervais, Mae Musk, David Rose (famous angel investor), and a few famous venture capitalists. On Facebook, for some reason, it's famous news anchors and TV-show hosts. Of course, they weren't the people they said they were. You're not going to be contacted by a famous person out of the blue, no matter how clever your content or startup is. Report these profiles.

People who work at LinkedIn, Facebook, X, etc.

These people generally won't contact you. On LinkedIn, there are some people who contact you to give you a free job posting, but in general, people who contact you first don't actually work for that platform. This is especially true of people who say your account is in violation of the terms of service, and you need to call them to fix the problem. Not only will you be contacted on the platform, they will also send you "emergency" emails that your account is about to be closed and you must respond immediately. Strangely, those emails don't come from anyone with a Meta.com or Facebook.com domain. Always report these profiles.

People from certain countries

I hate to say it, but you're definitely taking a risk with people from some countries. I won't say which countries, because I don't want to be censored or called names, but some countries are more risky than others. Just verify them by checking with their legitimate customers first.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst

It's great to build a network and find partners and collaborators. Some people simply aren't that good at what they do. But others are here to find their next victim. You can't tell them apart initially, so think twice before you send anyone any money.