Duane K.’s Post

My mother is from Vietnam, and English isn't her first language. She's 72 years old, works part-time, and doesn't have much saved for retirement. I'm terrified that a scammer might convince her they are me. Let's close ranks to protect each other from scams. Social media sites have poor track records protecting our privacy. Below, you will find a screenshot of a LinkedIn scam offering commission per task; this is a click farm. Flag them as scams, and do not engage. Speak out and don't assume everyone knows. Scammers can be very convincing, especially with AI text generators. The rest of this post isn't for you. Stay safe in your career search and networking. FOR THE LINKEDIN CEO AND THE C-SUITE STAFF: Social media have banked billions, and protecting our privacy is your only job. Failure to do so is grounds for immediate TERMINATION. There is a phone number that I have CHOSEN, not to blur, to steal their privacy. #LinkedIn HEAR THIS! This is your reputation, and we trust your platform. I know you cannot control everything that happens online. I expect you to meet higher standards because I trust you with my private data. I have already deleted Twitter (X), Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, as I believe they failed to meet the minimum job requirements. You must ensure that anyone attempting to scam using your name and logo faces the full force of the lawyers and cybersecurity specialists you employ to protect your shareholders. The people who use your site are the reason for its existence, and they are the most vulnerable to scams in a climate filled with hate and disgust for social media. When people feel hopeless, they will try anything. This is not a plea for you to take this seriously; this is a #THREAT I'm issuing to the people listed below because the targets are the ONLY reason you have a job. Don't make us regret hiring you. Allen Blue @RyanRoslansky Chief Executive Officer Raghuram Venkatesan Chief Tech/Sci/R&D Officer @MohakShroff Chief Tech/Sci/R&D Officer Daniel Shapero Chief Operating Officer

Social Engineering Report - Cybersecurity Event 10th September 2024 Attacker Details: +92 312 2720563 Incident Overview: The conversation appears to be an attempt at social engineering, where the attacker uses deceptive tactics to manipulate the victim into divulging confidential information or performing actions that may compromise their security. Key Elements of the Social Engineering Attempt: Impersonation of a Reputable Company:The attacker claims to represent “Upwork Digital Marketing Company,” leveraging the well-known name of Upwork to gain trust. Attractive Job Offer:The job position offered is “Online Executive Promoter (OEP),” with responsibilities that include writing positive reviews and subscribing to YouTube channels. The promised pay is unusually high (5000–30,000 PKR per day), which is a common tactic to lure victims. Urgency and Immediate Payment:The attacker emphasizes that tasks are completed and paid on the same day, creating a sense of urgency and immediate reward. Informal Payment Methods: Payment methods include EasyPaisa, or JazzCash, which are less traceable and more susceptible to fraud. Lack of Official Information: The attacker avoids providing official job postings or detailed procedures and instead directs the victim to a general website link. Suspicious Office Address: The provided office address in Pakistan does not align with the known operations of Upwork, raising further suspicion. Communication Channels: The attacker uses Telegram for communication, which is less secure and harder to trace compared to official company communication channels. My (Receipient) Response and Concerns: - The recipient expressed skepticism and requested verification of the job posting on Upwork. - The recipient questioned the office address and procedures, identifying potential discrepancies. - The recipient accused the company of being a ghost company and exploiting people with money traps. - The recipient mentioned communication issues and raised concerns about the legitimacy of the contact. Conclusion: The conversation exhibits several red flags indicative of a social engineering scam. The attacker uses the name of a reputable company, offers an attractive job with high pay, and employs informal communication and payment methods to deceive the victim. The user’s skepticism and critical questioning are appropriate responses to such an attempt. Recommendations: - Always verify job offers through official company channels. - Be cautious of unsolicited job offers, especially those promising high pay for simple tasks. - Avoid sharing personal information or engaging in financial transactions with unverified contacts. - Report suspicious activities to the relevant authorities or the legitimate company being impersonated.

Please be advised of fraudulent social media accounts impersonating Welocalize employees. These accounts often request sensitive information or offer jobs via private social media instant messages or generic email accounts with common domain names (e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) Welocalize will never solicit candidates or employees via direct messages on social media platforms. This includes, but is not limited to: requests for sensitive information, promises of payment, or job and project offers. Furthermore, Welocalize will never ask for money to secure a job or ask you to pay money for a job. All official contact from Welocalize representatives will be associated with @welocalize.com email accounts. https://lnkd.in/gHzQC6Ct #Welocalize #workwithwelocal #welodata #welocalizetalent

I got scammed on LI, well ... almost. Today, I got this short LI message from “Leah Robert” asking, “Have we met before? Why does LinkedIn keep recommending you?” It sounded innocent. However, there was something too perfect in “Leah’s” model LinkedIn profile. When I ran a quick check, I found that “Leah” works at a company where ten other Mrs. Roberts also magically exist - each with identical profiles but different first names – all meticulously created clones. This made me pause and reflect: Are we just witnessing LinkedIn become a playground for high-level AI-generated fake profiles and scams? And if so, what happens to the authentic networking, the genuine business development, and the real connections that so many of us rely on this platform for? As someone who makes a living finding real people and building relationships, it worries me. If scammers get more sophisticated and AI continues to outsmart the platform, what’s next for businesses looking to grow, freelancers and consultants, network organizations, advocacy groups, job seekers, or talent hunters on LI? Will AI-generated fraud eliminate our authentic efforts? Can we do something about it? Yes, to mention a few: • Report suspicious profiles immediately - help LinkedIn clean up the mess. • Stay attentive and verify connections before engaging, especially if something feels off • Update your privacy settings if necessary. • Speak up. Make noise and help LinkedIn to recognize the problem. The misuse of AI shouldn’t mean the fall of trust. How do you protect your network and yourself on LI? #ProtectYourNetwork #KeepLinkedInReal #AIAndEthics #StopAISpam #AuthenticConnections #LinkedInCommunity #AIResponsibility #FightFakeProfiles

A Malwarebytes article on the targeting of the "Open to Work" hashtag by fraudsters and bot accounts. In a classic understatement, the article notes: "Bots are problematic as they not only create a poor user experience but also present real security risks." LinkedIn is taking action, according to the article, but... "It’s unclear whether this was a result of user reports, LinkedIn’s own algorithms, or a combination of both." My experience of reporting a rather obvious bot account would seem to indicate that they're looking to rely on automation. I've been keeping a list of accounts that have been engaged in spamming people's posts for a couple of months now, and all of them are still active. Meanwhile, there have been complaints of false positives. I suspect that applying some actual human eyeballs to the task, even for a relatively short time, might help. Using their activities to train a machine could be a useful process. In any event, LinkedIn likely needs to get a handle on this... their paid value proposition appears to be mainly aimed at job seekers; an inability to protect that cohort from cybercriminals calls into question the utility of the platform for them.

For job seekers out there, there are lots of legitimate companies, but also lots of fake ones seeking to scam. I've been contacted by several now "interested in my background." After some research, they were found to be fake. Here are some ways to distinguish between real and fake companies: -Do they have a webpage? -Do any of their employees have Linkedin accounts? Nowadays, serious employers and employees tend to have Linkedin accounts, one employee may not, but if none of the employees on the company's webpage don't, it may not be a real one. Same applies to medium and large sized companies. -Are the Linkedin accounts detailed? It could be very broad info with fake companies, no reviews, no activity. -Are the names of the employees (if listed on the webpage) very common ones? Very common names are time consuming to search for and verify on social media, too many results (Smith, García, etc.) -Is the address listed on their webpage specific? Do a reverse search online to see where it is. -Do the email's contain spelling or format errors? A combination of these and other details could suggest that the company reaching out to you may have other plans. It's easy to create fictitious companies online, especially with the right resources. Be cautious.

LinkedIn needs to get more serious about bots and/or bad actors. I get messages from people like this regularly who want to offer me consulting, work or advisory positions - but it's totally a scam. However, when you submit a report, they often get cleared - even though if you search linked in for the name, you will see others with their name and they are clearly bots and most likely messaging lots of other people. Should be pretty simple to have the ability to report this sort of a thing and start shutting these profiles down. It's better than letting vulnerable people get scammed with job offers to get their PII. Every one of these accounts is FAKE and the same name, position, etc. of the "person" that messaged me today.

For those recently #unemployed and on the job hunt... PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR THESE RED FLAGS indicating #fakeprofiles and #bots - messages with generic questions as an attempt to trick you into accepting the request - profiles with little or no followers - profiles with images that look AI-generated - profiles with no photo but an icon instead A recent "recruiter" messaged me, but I could tell the photo wasn't real. A quick reverse Google image search helped me track down the real professional's LinkedIn. (photo removed for privacy) Scammers are using our vulnerability of needing employment to steal sensitive information. Please see the photo of all the messages I got from similar accounts last night. Keep going... don't let these bots and scammers slow you down! Just #block and #delete AND report* (thanks Jody!). LinkedIn, can we fix this? #jobsearching #bealert #redflags #scams #bots

Have you had the pleasure of having your account restricted by LinkedIn's automated systems? Odds are you will soon. Here's what you can expect. (The last slide in the PDF shows the comment its systems identified as "𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩".) 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟏: At what seems like the most inopportune moment such as almost finishing a post you are about to schedule, or completing a comment on another member's post, suddenly your screen turns white and you are logged out of LI. After login back in you are hit with "Acces to your account has been restricted." 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟐: Under Actions You Can Take, you click the 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 link and are taken to a page 𝐁𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞 and the section on "𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭". 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟑: The page (last updated 1 yr ago) lays out how LinkedIn requires all members to comply with their 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔. (I urge you to read these and other updated TOS set to take place Nov. 20th - https://t.ly/kcq5-) 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟒: Appeal process and the comment removed for harassment. Review our policy ✔️ Review removed comment ✔️ Submit an appeal ✔️ 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟓: Confirmation of appeal received. YAY! 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟔: Upon reviewing the 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 portion of LI's TOS, it states clearly what they allow and don't allow. Normally these words hold some amount of confidence as a member. By sheer first-hand experience, they do not. 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟕: Further done this rabbit hole I went and slowly read 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. Wow. 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. Do you feel safe? I'll take "less annoyed" at this stage. 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟖: Let's review 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝑳𝑰 𝒆𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔. If only enforcement, the right kind, were actually happening. 𝐒𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟗: The actual comment their automated systems flagged as harassment. If only half of this effort were focused on fake profile deterrents and removals, and actual enforcement of POD violations......SIGH These instances, experiences, and other topics will be covered this Thursday at 3PM at the 🏛️ 𝐋𝐈 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥 🏛️. Register To Attend: https://lnkd.in/eqp8N8EB Survey For Participation: https://lnkd.in/exmysVaG #LITownHall #LinkedInAudioEvent #Harassment

LinkedIn, haven for foreign scam artists, bots, and fake accounts Fellow professionals, Perhaps you have noticed that LinkedIn has changed. It is overrun with foreign scam artists, bots, and fake accounts. Jay Jones and Russell Irby are becoming renowned for researching and exposing these. If you are not familiar, you need to become so. Many are familiar with the difficulties posed by the post-monster dot com era of online applications. Employers are inundated, recruiters are problematic, and now the 2024 version of the "Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation," too?!? This must change. NOW!! I detest politics on LinkedIn. So, here's how we're going to handle this. This issue affects EVERYONE. There *is no* politics in this issue. Only public policy. So that is how we will approach it. Things must change. One, without question, all must be protected against persons in foreign countries. Two, LinkedIn must act to protect account holders. They have a Duty of Care to protect us, the same as a grocery store or 7-11 against criminals on their property. Look it up. This applies well-established case law to a new technological field (social media). But we are exposed to those who *are* perpetrating harm to our peers. LinkedIn has dropped the ball. Three, employers are playing games. This must stop. Jobs posted to LinkedIn must include an internal job reference ID# and link to company website with job listing. Recruitment firms may link to their website and job listing. A *US-BASED* company website must be linked, so foreign sourcing agents must link to a US-based employer's or recruitment firm's website. Last (for now), US recruitment firms must LIST foreign recruitment firms with whom they transact. And they must LINK to one another on both their websites AND public social media platforms like LinkedIn. And these foreign recruitment firms must LINK both on their website an ANY public platform they operate on (LinkedIn, Ziprecruiter, et al). There. That wasn't political, was it?!? That should be low-hanging fruit we can all agree on. Other suggestions? Please comment below. Feel free to share far and wide. Some of you know Senators and Congressmen personally. We will soon discuss how to approach them asking for reforms, regulations, and legislation. Stay tuned!