LinkedIn scams via fake job offers, phishing on the rise: Report

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 report has shown.

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 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.