Tips for Defeating Scammers on LinkedIn

Not surprisingly, LinkedIn is less than helpful when it comes to fraud and scam concerns. Sadly, they’re still living in the 2000s, when we had a world chock full of dead relatives and Nigerian princes.

More or less, they state the following warning signs:??

Offers that seem too good to be true.

What offers? If the message is from a trusted friend’s hacked account, what happens? You’re going to accept that person’s offer, especially if you know them.

Messages containing spelling or grammar mistakes.

This is an absolute falsehood. We’ve dealt with many honest people who simply don’t know proper English to communicate.

Messages that aren't addressed to you personally.

We get these way too often. What amounts to a “blanket advertisement”, and frankly LinkedIn, they are REALLY getting annoying.

Messages asking you for personal or financial information.

Again, if the account is hacked and you trust the individual, you’re going to give that up rather easily.

The game is different now. People aren’t just gunning for your money anymore. They want your life – at least your online life. This is especially relevant for those with rather important positions or companies to care for. One slip up, just one leaked password, and you no longer exist online. You’re an entirely different person and his or her aim is to destroy your reputation while making gobs of money doing it.

While the perpetrators and their aims are really not that different from the “old days”, there is still a multitude of Messenger fraud out there – and it can come from anyone, whether she’s a dumbstruck “newbie” trying to make new connections, or the CEO of a powerful company. That’s the main failing with LinkedIn, and in fact several different platforms. You really don’t know who you’re speaking with.

And you have no real way to say “no” to people that want to network with you, without telling them so – or blocking them outright. And from our nearly 12-year journey here on LinkedIn, we’d like to say we’ve seen everything. But every once in a while, we get a new scam, a new game, a new way to play.

But thankfully, for all you clueless people still willing to bend over backwards for complete strangers, we have a few tips here for you, absolutely guaranteed to keep you safe while here. Of course, nothing is guaranteed online so…maybe we’re just another scammer…?

Tip 1: That’s the big one we should get out in the open immediately, shall we? Nothing is guaranteed. Not money, not friends, not relatives, not even the air you breathe. One of the first things we want to highlight is the “guarantee”. Example: Someone may connect with you to ask if you need marketing help, and will then “guarantee” positive results for you, or you pay no money or get your money back.

Now, stop and think about this, okay? If you’re going to give anyone money, you’d better be damned certain you know where it’s going and for what. We suggest you also hold a Paypal or similar account platform that tracks your activity – and you have the option to back out of a payment or cancel it forthwith if you sense a scam. ANYTHING over $100.00, you send a personal check for – or make arrangements with your bank to do a wire transfer – also which can be called back if you sense foul play.

Tip 2: Know who the person is for real. We can’t stress this enough. Anyone can be anyone on the Internet. If you get a message from someone saying he or she represents a company, then CONTACT the company. Make sure the phone number, address, everything lines up perfectly with the department of business records in the state, county or country you want to do business with. Yes, it’s a lot of research to have to do, and it’s painstaking. Luckily, we’ve had great experience trapping and indicting fraud over the past few decades, so come to us if you sense something wrong. We WILL find the truth.

Tip 3: Avoid the small talk. Scammers are there for one purpose before fleecing you – gaining your trust. We had someone today try to network with us (her name kept secret just because we want to be respectful) starting out a chat with us, asking to network, saw our profile, thought we were awesome, etc. Immediately started talking about who she was and what she did. Then told us she had a $1500 investment in cryptocurrency. Now, be honest, boys and girls, this probably isn’t the best chat to be having with a total unknown, correct?

Why would she tell us that? Then she wanted to know if we invested in it, and we told her that was none of her damned business. She seemed okay with that answer, then said she had to visit her parents in Ohio in a few months, and would we like to meet at “the local café”.

We blocked her forthwith.

So, yes, folks, get a feel for the conversation you’re having with these low-lifes, okay? Pretend it’s a real conversation, face to face, and judge for yourself if this chat seems a bit too…chatty.

They’re feeling you out, plain and simple. Don’t fall for it.

Tip 4: Probably the most important tip on our list and the one we all sadly neglect the most. Let me tell you how it starts. You’re on LinkedIn and you suddenly get a message from someone who has a marketing or advertising offer for you to get more business. First off…why are they contacting you? It’s probably an ad, one of those “blanket advertisements” we all hate, but sure, it could be legitimate too. These attract us the most because, yes, of course we want to gain more clients and make more money. That’s the aim of many a small business.

But what you’re going to find here is fraud. Your “contact” likely runs with this massive crowd who’s been trolling LinkedIn now for the better part of a year, with these “references” on a website known as Fiverr. While a lot of users there are completely honest and upfront, there’s currently a gang of maybe 10 or 12 people (yes, all fake LinkedIn accounts, and LinkedIn won’t do squat about it. We even reported one and what happened? We were flagged for not having a proper account set-up.) who operate under this hugs umbrella with one single Paypal account – and most likely if you trace the account, they’ll then come back and say, “Oh, it’s my brother’s account”, or “uncle’s account”, etc. Usually it’s only about $60-65 and they of course have a money-back guarantee.

Ahem, refer to Tip #1.

But you’ll never get a response once you send the money. These people have probably fleeced, through their fake accounts, over a million dollars or more so far this year and they’re not done yet.

So, be aware of this marketing ploy, please.

Okay, that’s all we had to say. We’re angry, okay? We’re tired of the fraud and people trying to take two struggling writers for granted and trying to take even more from them.

You’d be angry too.

Okay, we’re done.

Now, be safe.