LinkedIn scams via fake job offers, phishing on the rise - Here's how to avoid online job scams

More and more people are now switching to professional networking sites like LinkedIn with the rise of remote jobs. This is simply because it has become easier to conduct your entire job search online. However, this has led to an increase in scams as well. According to the latest reports, fake job offers and phishing scams are on the rise on LinkedIn and half of the businesses (56 per cent) globally experienced at least one LinkedIn scam this year.

A fake job offer is the most popular scam (48 per cent) and a damaged reputation (48 per cent) was the leading outcome of LinkedIn scams, according to NordLayer, a network security solution for businesses.

Almost half of the companies (45 per cent) are also aware of a scam on LinkedIn using their organisation's brand name, the findings showed.

"The primary function of LinkedIn -- building a career -- introduces one of the most common LinkedIn scams, fake job offers. With 117 job applications submitted per second on the platform, fraudsters have an ideal environment for creating a legitimate-looking job posting to collect personal information or money," the report said.

Another popular scam is LinkedIn phishing, where an actor impersonates a well-known company or professional using fake profiles to send unsolicited messages or emails that ask for sensitive information.

"Also, receiving an invitation to connect is common on the platform. Fraud actors use this connection culture to start a conversation and share a link with malicious content expecting LinkedIn users will click on it," it added.

The scams fall under two main categories. One is targeting individuals or pretending to be LinkedIn users. Another one is on a company level, operating under false organisation pretext or impersonating an existing company to build more credibility.

The research data shows that over one-third of survey respondents were aware of multiple LinkedIn frauds using their organisation name.

Interestingly, the least active scam outreach was noticed in small companies and 52 per cent of respondents confirmed that no one in their organisation had such an experience.

"Fewer organisations with LinkedIn company profiles can explain such deviation from general tendency. The rest of the respondents (47 per cent) indicated their organisation employees are likely to be engaged in a scheme," said the report.

Follow these rules, if you want to avoid these types of scams:

• Be sceptical of personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)
   
• Never pay to get a job
   
• Never accept money or agree to transfer money
   
• Use trusted job search websites 
   
• Do not give personal bank account numbers, PayPal account information, or credit card numbers to an employer
   
• Review job postings carefully before applying
   
• Research the company on Google and social media before applying

With IANS inputs