LinkedIn Struck by Recruitment Scam Wave Following Tech Layoffs

LinkedIn has reportedly seen a rash of scams targeting remote workers and jobless tech employees.

People seeking jobs on the networking site are instead being cheated out of money as they take part in phony recruitments run by scammers pretending to be employers, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Feb. 26).

“There’s certainly an increase in the sophistication of the attacks and the cleverness,” Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn’s vice president of product management, told the FT.

“We see websites being set up, we see phone numbers with a seemingly professional operator picking up the phone and answering on the company’s behalf. We see a move to more sophisticated deception,” added Rodriguez.

The report cites figures from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) showing there were more than 92,000 job-related and business scams in 2022, with $367.4 million reported stolen. The FTC findings show these scams becoming less widespread but more lucrative: in 2021, there were 105,000 scams reported, but $209 million lost.

As noted here last year, this type of fraud is not a new phenomenon. In March 2022, Google warned that it was monitoring a “financially motivated threat actor,” identified as Exotic Lily, that had spent months using complex and convincing new tactics to get past company defenses with fake business opportunities.

And the cybersecurity firm Egress warned that it had seen a 232% rise in email phishing attacks which are impersonating LinkedIn designed to trick victims into clicking on phishing links and then entering their credentials into phony websites.

Fake websites are just one way scammers have used to dupe consumers into turning over money or information. As PYMNTS reported late last year, retailers are also warning about the rise of phone order confirmations and phony text messages.

“Any communication, whether text messages or email or phone call, that you’re feeling this sense of false urgency, you need to stop and think about it,” Abigail Bishop, head of scam prevention at Amazon, told PYMNTS.

PYMNTS research has shown that while these types of scams target consumers directly and just use a retailer or brand name for cover, it still impacts business. Bad online experiences tend to have a ripple effect on customer retention and digital commerce use and trust.

The December Digital Fraud Tracker®, a collaboration between PYMNTS and DataVisor, argues that “a smooth experience every step of the way is non-negotiable.”

The study also notes that the issue “becomes even more urgent, considering that 56% of buyers said they would share bad experiences with colleagues and co-workers, causing potential loss of clients and revenue in the future.”