Fake LinkedIn Profiles

I have accounts on several social media platforms. However, since I do not like to post selfies, I am the most non-influencer person ever. I heard there are a lot of fake profiles trying to scam people on Instagram and Tinder, but now the same thing is happening on LinkedIn. I guess the idea is to befriend strangers then try to get them to invest in fake crypto or commodities trading schemes.

There was a recent article in MIT Technology Review regarding fake LinkedIn profiles.

If you were just looking at his LinkedIn page, you’d certainly think Mai Linzheng was a top-notch engineer. With a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua, China’s top university, and a master’s degree in semiconductor manufacturing from UCLA, Mai began his career at Intel and KBR, a space tech company, before ending up at SpaceX in 2013. Having spent the past eight years and nine months working in the human race to space, he’s now a senior technician.

Except all is not as it seems. 

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/09/07/1059067/chinese-spacex-engineers-linkedin-scam/

In the article, it mentions that a majority of the scam profiles are China related. This is ironic since SpaceX is subject to ITAR controls, and normally restricted from hiring non-US persons.

I am unsure how these scammers select which profiles to target. I have a lot of work experience on my LinkedIn profile, and correspondingly, I am getting many invites from scammers. LinkedIn is pretty good at detecting and deleting these fake profiles, so when I click on the View Profile button, I often get this page:

As mentioned in the MIT article, the profile picture of these fake accounts is usually a good-looking Asian/Chinese person. Since I am Chinese, I am unsure they are targeting Asian users, or if it is the scammer’s default profile. Here are a few of the fake profiles from the notification emails. Scammers are likely using stolen photos too.

These are just from the past four weeks. About 80% of LinkedIn invites are made up of these fake profiles. Are all these sent by the same scammers, or are there competing groups? Why are there so many Asian female limited partners from Sausalito?

There are a handful more invites that could be fake but have not been removed by LinkedIn. I think I will accept a few of them and see what scams are popular.