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  • Geebo 8:00 am on May 28, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , LinkedIn, , ,   

    Scammers Are Sliding Into LinkedIn 

    LinkedIn is often considered one of the safer corners of social media, a place where professionals share career milestones, expand their networks, and connect with future colleagues. But even platforms aimed at career growth are not immune to deception. As one recent incident illustrates, scammers are watching just as closely as potential employers.

    A newly hired employee at a North Carolina television station had shared a standard career update on LinkedIn to mark the beginning of a new role. It was a common post, the kind many professionals make to celebrate career changes. But shortly after connecting with colleagues, the employee received a suspicious text message. The sender claimed to be a manager at the new job, asking if she was available. The message came from an unfamiliar number. Rather than responding right away, she verified the sender through official work channels. That quick check confirmed her instincts that the message was a scam.

    This incident is part of a broader trend of social engineering schemes that target people through LinkedIn and similar platforms. Security experts have long warned that scammers often impersonate employers, recruiters, or co-workers. While some of these messages are after money or personal information, others aim to pull unsuspecting users into criminal activity without their knowledge. Fake job offers, especially ones promising remote work for easy pay, can sometimes serve as fronts for money laundering operations. Scammers may ask victims to transfer funds, purchase gift cards, or engage in other seemingly legitimate tasks, all designed to disguise the origin of illicit gains.

    The growing capabilities of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology are only making these scams harder to detect. Fraudsters can now use fabricated audio and video content to mimic real people and sound convincingly professional. As technology advances, even savvy internet users may struggle to identify what is real and what has been manipulated.

    It’s important to remember that even platforms built for professional engagement are not immune from manipulation. LinkedIn’s focus on career development can create a false sense of security, but scammers thrive in these environments because they know people often let their guard down. Users should be cautious about what they share publicly and consider reviewing their privacy settings. Reducing the visibility of personal details can be one way to limit exposure.

    There are also tools available to help manage your digital footprint. Some online services allow users to request the removal of personally identifiable information from search results. Taking advantage of these features may reduce the risk of being targeted.

    If anything seems off, whether it’s a job offer that feels too good to be true or a message from someone you don’t recognize, verify through a trusted channel before engaging. In today’s digital landscape, vigilance remains one of the most reliable defenses.

     
  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 7, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , LinkedIn, ,   

    Even LinkedIn has job scams 

    Even LinkedIn has job scams

    By Greg Collier

    When we think of social media scams, we normally think of platforms like Facebook and Instagram. When we think of online job scams, we might typically think of platforms like Craigslist. When it comes to job scams on social media, we don’t usually think of LinkedIn. While it may not be LinkedIn’s intention, the social network gives off an impression that it’s for professionals to network with other professionals. LinkedIn may also give its users a false sense of security when it comes to being recruited by an employer. What many LinkedIn users seem to forget is anybody can open a LinkedIn account under any name they want. Anybody can claim to hold a position that they don’t currently hold, such as job recruiter.

    The Better Business Bureau is warning LinkedIn users that phony job recruiters are scamming victims out of money and personal information. In one instance, an Indiana woman was hired rather quickly for a work at home position she applied for on LinkedIn. The woman was asked by her supposed employer to open a bank account in her name to book a conference for the phony company. Thankfully, she realized it was a scam before she opened the account. Unfortunately, others have not been so lucky.

    In other instances, the phony recruiters have asked for money upfront for training or business supplies. After the victims have paid the recruiter, the job never materializes. This is after the victim has supplied the recruiter with their personal information during the application process. This often leads to the applicants becoming victims of identity theft.

    The best way a LinkedIn user can protect themselves against this scam is to thoroughly research the company and the recruiter offering the position. If their profiles are filled with grammatical errors, the odds are pretty good they’re scammers. You can also ask to speak to the recruiter on the phone. While it’s not a guarantee of dissuading a scammer, it will go a long way in weeding many of them out.

     
  • Geebo 11:00 am on February 23, 2017 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , LinkedIn   

    Will Facebook Jobs ever catch up to LinkedIn? 

    Will Facebook Jobs ever catch up to LinkedIn?

    As has been posted at this blog recently, you can now apply for jobs on Facebook. However, as was also posted, applying for jobs through Facebook can pose its own set of problems. With those problems it may be more beneficial to use a more professional appearing platform like LinkedIn.

    Now that Facebook Jobs is now online it’s already starting to experience growing pains compared to the more established LinkedIn. Reports are coming in from employers who say that paying for boosted posts on Facebook do not generate nearly as many candidates as they would on LinkedIn, and that it’s more expensive to boost employment posts on Facebook as well.

    Facebook does have a few advantages though. The first of course is sheer numbers. Facebook deals in billions of users while LinkedIn deals in millions. Facebook is also the definition of ubiquitous. It’s everywhere and just about everyone uses it and it shows no signs of slowing down. Due to its sheer size, it could only take Facebook a few tweaks of Facebook Jobs to make it a serious competitor to the more established LinkedIn.

     
  • Greg Collier 5:38 pm on April 10, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ERE Expo, , , , , KODA, LinkedIn, Recruiting, , SilkRoad, ,   

    Social Networks May Provide Connections But Job Boards Showcase Opportunities 

    It’s no secret that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have become the Internet’s go-to places for sharing news, milestones and – in this economy – leads on job openings. And certainly any professional who’s been searching for employment in recent years has put together a LinkedIn profile to showcase his or her skills.

    So where does that leave job boards, such as the one I host on Geebo? Are they destined to fall by the wayside as social networks become the new home for job listings?

    The short answer to that question is, quite simply, no.

    In fact, at the recent ERE Expo in San Diego – considered to be the premier conference for recruiting professionals – I noticed that the social networks were nowhere to be found. I saw no signs of Facebook or Twitter or even LinkedIn.

    It turns out that, when it comes to linking employers with prospective employees, social really isn’t the most effective route. Consider the points that a couple of recruiting and job board experts made during a recent Q&A in Forbes. Job boards, they said, offer faster signals to the market. They are good for driving lots of eyeballs to a single job listing that’s tied to a certain industry or location, which is especially good for reactive small businesses who tend to post a job as the need for help arrives.

    But recruiting over social networks has two primary problems associated with it (among others):

    1) The ability to apply online for something that a jobseeker may or may not be qualified for leads to what’s called “Resume Spam” by job seekers who cast the widest net possible by applying for everything – even if they’re not qualified or clearly didn’t read the job description.

    2) Friends tend to overvalue their ability to judge their friends abilities. Consider your out-of-work accountant neighbor. You know he’s out of work and you think of him when you hear about an opening out there – but what do you really know about his job skills, work ethic or professional background? He may be a nice guy and quick to lend a neighborly hand from time to time – but does that make him qualified for a particular job?

    When a job seeker comes to a site like Geebo to scan active listings, they can immediately filter down the choices by industry and location. Because these listings tend to be fresh, job seekers understand that there are opportunities out there.

    Sure, social is a great way for recruiters to identify people who might be good matches for their open positions. And as a means of learning more about potential candidates, social networks offer a greater insight that goes beyond the resume. But as a place to solicit and find the right matches, social is almost too big to be effective.

    Consider what happened to KODA a few years ago. The startup company rounded up millions in venture capital money to deliver a site that brought together the elements of social networks and job boards – a idea filled with challenges that eventually proved to be too much for the company, which has since headed into the sunset.

    Social has a role here but, by no means, should anyone start writing the job board’s obituary. In a recent blog post, SilkRoad, a company that focuses on “social talent management,” chimed in about the importance of job boards in finding talent and ranked sites that were the leading external sources for hiring.

    Not surprisingly, Facebook, Twitter and other social sites were nowhere on that list.

     
    • Lindsay 2:45 am on October 24, 2012 Permalink

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