Why Should You Always View a Person's LinkedIn Profile Before Accepting Their Request?

There is no question about it, we depend more and more on technology to do our jobs. The technology we use can be a wonderful tool, naturally, but it also creates more opportunity for thieves to gain access to our financial information or infect us with whatever the flavor of the day virus happens to be.

We have to stay on our toes constantly to avoid any number of scams happening on a daily basis. We are all familiar with the emails asking for help because the person is stranded in a foreign country. Typically when I get these I’ve never heard of the person, but today I received one from someone I actually know. Well, their name anyway.

I can spot these things a mile away. But these people doing these scams are getting better and better and more sophisticated all the time. Much of it simply comes down to common sense. But a good rule of thumb is to never open a link emailed to you unless you can verify the source as credible.

These scam artists have now made their way into LinkedIn. It was just a matter of time. But it again is just about being aware. Keeping your eyes wide open. Don’t open links from any one of your connections unless you can verify that this is a real person.

Yes, fake profiles are being added to LinkedIn every day for the sole purpose of scamming you or infecting your computer. Many people simply accept requests from other LinkedIn users without even looking at their profile. So a good word of advice: always check out the person’s profile before you accept the invitation. But review it closely. You might be surprised what you find out.

This applies to recruiters as well. If you get an invite from a recruiter, please check them out. Make certain they are a real recruiter.

To get deeper into this topic I’d like to share a link to an article, How Hackers are using fake LinkedIn profiles to steal your information.

By the way, this is link is from a trusted source, me!

Scot Dickerson, CPC
President