LinkedIn is one of the few examples of specific purpose social networks that have known how to grow and consolidate over the years. Today it is, without a doubt, the great reference in professional environments, compared to other alternatives, such as Xing, who have never managed to dispute the first position. And it is that its platform combination of networking and job offers, added to the presence of corporate profiles and big business figures, make it a very, very attractive service for professional purposes.
This specialization also has allowed LinkedIn to escape many moves that we have seen in general purpose social networks, thus managing to maintain a fairly positive image and, even more, to enjoy enviable economic health thanks to the invoicing of premium accounts, a very practical function to facilitate contact with others users of the service, and that also provides a plus of credibility to the profiles.
But of course, not everything could be positive, and as we can read on CNBC, The FBI has claimed that LinkedIn fraud is a “significant threat” for the platform and consumers. In other words, precisely because of the positive evaluation that many LinkedIn users make, they tend to be more trusting in their interactions on the service and, consequently, cybercriminals are taking advantage of this circumstance and scamming many users.
Although it has barely transpired publicly so far, according to the US agency, the volume of scams related to investment in cryptocurrencies has grown exponentially on LinkedIn, where a large number of frauds have already occurred in the past, and without any decrease in this sense being observed in the present. Scammers continue to be very active on this social network, and the FBI does not believe that this trend will be reversed in the future.
Microsoft, which owns LinkedIn, acknowledges a recent increase in the volume of fraud on the platform and, in response, claims it removed no fewer than 32 million fake accounts last year. A very high number, so surprising, and that indicates that movements in this regard are very much the order of the day and, therefore, that we must be extremely careful in interactions with strangers through the service.
The scheme of the scam is as follows: a scammer uses a fake profile to impersonate a professional and contacts potential victims. After having a conversation with them,It is proposed to make an investment in cryptocurrencies and directs them to a legitimate platform where you start trading. Using the legitimate platform allows the scammer to gain the trust of the victim, at which point they are told to move the investment to a site controlled by the scammer. The funds are then emptied from the account.
