LinkedIn, a professional social networking website, has become a part of our daily lives as it not only allows us to promote a business but also allows to network, job hunt and recruit new talent. However, not all seems to be well with the said online business, as it has disturbed the lives of many professionals in the year 2021-2022.
Cyber crooks are seen creating fake profiles to perform social engineering attacks on individuals and businesses. And surprising, about 78,000 people fell prey to such attacks that led to a more complex scenario last year.
Often disguised as pretty female faces, such criminals use a technique called phishing to gain information related to email addresses, banking details and login credentials.
According to a survey Google Threat Analysis team, phishing emails are targeting many individuals and organizations each day and most of them are being launched through LinkedIn.
Fake job offers, via email or InMail are being circulated to trap individuals via spear-phishing or whaling. And it is estimated that a 40% increase was witnessed on this note since the beginning of 2022.
What’s amazing about this threat is that some criminal gangs from China, Russia and the United States are using the technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to trap professionals from reputed companies.
And once the victim responds by accepting the job offer or desires to know more, the scammer sends them a web link to gain data from the victim.
So, how to stay safe from LinkedIn cyber frauds
1. It’s simple, never-ever reveal any financial info on the LinkedIn platform.
2. Post a question to all job offers and try to connect with the HR of the company on a direct note
3. Reveal no contact info on the LinkedIn profile
4. Connect with professionals, after checking out their profiles and doing a bit of search on Google.
5. Report LinkedIn users who appear suspicious as it helps keep the professional social networking platform safe from frauds
