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Fake profiles on LinkedIn

    Lately I've noticed I'm receiving more and more invites on LinkedInfrom non existant people: fake profiles. These profiles already have shared connections. Because apparantly a large portion of my connections is accepting invited without checking the profiles, or without meeting them first.

    Brian Wirrmack: fake profile

    The most recent example is of Brian Wittmack of Ericsson. Of course they can't be tagged on LinkedIn. I wonder what is behind this. New ways of scamming people? Data mining? Or maybe some sort of espionage? My imagination is running wild!

    How to recognize a fake profile on LinkedIn?

    Only the most basic information is filled in. Like a little bit of work experience.

    The person in the profile almost always lives abroad.

    There is no contact information available.

    The profile often doesn't have a link with your field of expertise. I already questioned in this case: what does an administrative assistant with Ericsson need from me?

    The profile picture is (not always!) professionally made and / or it's a model. You can search the source of the image through Google Lens. In this case it's this website.

    The name doesn't usually sound like a name from the given location. I can already safely assume there aren't many people named 'Wittmack' in North-Macedonia.

    They never send you a message with their invite, explaining to you why they are inviting you while they never met you. It's probably too much effort for the bots or scammers to do so.

    When you google their name, you will only find people with the same name who live in other countries. Or the name pops op in fora about scammers.

    And so I can go on.

    Be better at preventing fake profiles

    It would be great if all of is would be more careful about who we give access to our connections and profiles on LinkedIn. Not only to protect ourselves, but also the data from our connections. Not only so that we don't get scammed ourselves, but also to prevent the scammers from using your profile information to scam other victims.

    Need help with LinkedIn?

    Are you a professional and do you need help with your personal profile on LinkedIn, or your company page on LinkedIn? Please feel free to Contact me. That way we can discuss your needs and see what Contentchick.nl can do for you!

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