FBI warned the public of the fraudsters who exploit LinkedIn. The fraudsters lure users into cryptocurrency investment schemes, according to CNBC.
According to Sean Ragan, the FBI's special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California, field offices, the schemes pose a "significant threat" to the platform and consumers.
Ragan said in an interview that: "It's a significant threat. This type of fraudulent activity is significant, and there are many potential victims, and there are many past and current victims."
How Does the Scheme Work?
The scheme involves "a fraudster posing as a professional creating a fake profile and reaching out to a LinkedIn user," as per CNBC. Using LinkedIn messaging, the scammer starts with small talk with the platform's user. Afterwards, the scammer would offer to help the victim make money through a crypto investment.
According to the victims interviewed by CNBC, they are opted to believe that the investment are legitimate since LinkedIn is a trusted platform for business networking.
Initially, the fraudster will refer the user to a legitimate investment platform for crypto. However, after several months of gaining their trust, the scammer will tell the user "to move the investment to another site controlled by the fraudster." Eventually, the money will be removed from the account.
"So the criminals, that's how they make money, that's what they focus their time and attention on. And they are always thinking about different ways to victimize people, victimize companies. And they spend their time doing their homework, defining their goals and their strategies, and their tools and tactics that they use," Ragan stated.
According to Ragan, an increase in this particular investment fraud has been observed by the FBI. This is not the same with a long-running scam wherein to persuade the subject to give money to the scammer, the criminal pretends to show a romantic interest.
The FBI could not comment yet since it is still an open case but the agency confirmed that it is already conducting active investigations.
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LinkedIn Acts to Prevent Further Scams
There has been a recent uptick of fraud in its platform, according to LinkedIn.
In a statement, it told CNBC that: "we enforce our policies, which are very clear: fraudulent activity, including financial scams, are not allowed on LinkedIn. We work every day to keep our members safe, and this includes investing in automated and manual defenses to detect and address fake accounts, false information, and suspected fraud."
Furthermore, LinkedIn said that to keep the platform's users safe from bad actors, they are working with peer companies and government agencies from across the world. They encouraged members who encountered a scam to report it to them and to local law enforcement.
According to the company, in 2021, they had removed more than 32 million fake accounts from its platform. Its automated defenses stopped 96% of all fake accounts from July to December 2021. The semiannual report of fraud said that it "includes 11.9 million that were stopped at registration and 4.4 million that were proactively restricted," according to CNBC. Around 127,000 fake profiles reported by members were also removed.
On a Thursday night blog post, LinkedIn cautioned users against sending money to people they don't know. They also warned users not to respond to accounts with a questionable work history.
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