LinkedIn is THE social media platform for work - everyone knows that. But unfortunately, we're just finding out how it can also be a data source for scammers. Warwickshire Police has registered a considerable rise in bogus boss scams on the social platform, with victims reporting how scammers impersonated their bosses and asked for financial favors. In this thread, our community discusses their thoughts on the latest scams.
This Slogging thread by Mónica Freitas, Sara Pinto and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #random channel, and has been edited for readability.
Huge rise in LinkedIn bogus boss scams - Warwickshire Police
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-61332192
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-61332192
"Fraudsters are targeting young professionals using their LinkedIn profiles, police are warning.
One scam known as "bogus boss" involves workers receiving fake emails purporting to be from their employer.
The website is being "massively exploited by criminals in terms of being able to scrape information," said Warwickshire Police.
Cyber protect officer James Squire said it was one of the fastest growing scams the force was seeing.
One victim, in his 20s, told BBC CWR he lost almost £1,000 after responding to fake emails and texts from someone he believed to be his boss."
One scam known as "bogus boss" involves workers receiving fake emails purporting to be from their employer.
The website is being "massively exploited by criminals in terms of being able to scrape information," said Warwickshire Police.
Cyber protect officer James Squire said it was one of the fastest growing scams the force was seeing.
One victim, in his 20s, told BBC CWR he lost almost £1,000 after responding to fake emails and texts from someone he believed to be his boss."
""I'd started a new job so I was really keen to impress," he said, when he received the message asking him to purchase vouchers on behalf of the company.
"It's a really small company and it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to be in touch with me," he explained.
"At first they asked me to purchase £300 of vouchers and then once I'd agreed they asked me to buy more and more of them. I showed a couple of my colleagues, and they seemed to think it was normal so I did it.""
"It's a really small company and it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to be in touch with me," he explained.
"At first they asked me to purchase £300 of vouchers and then once I'd agreed they asked me to buy more and more of them. I showed a couple of my colleagues, and they seemed to think it was normal so I did it.""
The website is "great for business," he added but allowed the criminals access to information that make the fake emails seem "more plausible and believable".
What do you think about this? We've seen a few similar scams happening all around us but using LinkedIn to collect info is a first for me.
Mónica Freitas, I've never seen such thing through LinkedIn. It's such a serious platform that I would expect this. The fact is people can reach us through many platforms, and they can sound pretty authentic.
Mónica Freitas, the last scam I've encountered was through text messages saying that I either had a voice mail to hear or that they had a business proposal to me. The good part is that these ones already sound sketchy, so it's easy to dodge. But when it comes to someone impersonating your boss in a way that looks real, things can be a little more confusing.
What's the latest scam you dealt with? Mónica Freitas
Mónica Freitas, that isn't very good. But LinkedIn is seeing a huge growth, so there is no wonder why the platform is seeing such large amounts of fraud.
Sara Pinto, I think, at this point, we expect scams in every platform, but LinkedIn is such a specific social platform that it still surprises me. But I guess it's even easier to pull out a scam like this once you disguise yourself as someone's boss. Like the victim featured in the news said, you want to make a good impression in your job, especially when you're new. So, you're more prone to falling for these schemes.
Sara Pinto, that's such a strange scheme! I'm not sure how the voice mail one would work since sometimes we do have voice mails (not as much nowadays, but it happens). Glad you spotted it right away.
Sara Pinto, the last one they tried to pull on me was regarding order shipment. I received a message saying my order was stuck in customs, and I had to pay an x amount to release it. This could be highly plausible if it were from the post offices. But instead, it was this strange phone number linked to an unknown website. Plus, I hadn't ordered anything, so I spotted the scam right away. I also did a little google research to check if there was anything on that phone number to see if it was a legit company. Surprise, surprise, it wasn't. There even was a forum with complaints from people who had fallen prey to the scheme warning others.
Jack Boreham, scammers are getting creative, that's for sure. But it's still so strange to see them now using LinkedIn. But I suppose we'll be seeing more inventive scams, especially using the work environment. I can imagine someone passing as HR as asking for bank data from new employees 😬 not to give them any ideas.
Mónica Freitas, I think my surprise comes from the way they can be so credible to disguise themselves as someone's boss. You do want to make a good impression, but it does come off as an odd approach.
Mónica Freitas, they send a link alongside the voicemail message, and you know, it's kind of intuitive just clicking on links thinking nothing bad will happen.
Mónica Freitas, I've heard about that one! God bless Google. It has saved me numerous times, haha.
Sara Pinto, so many people are so afraid to go up to their bosses to double check information... maybe that's why it works so well.
Sara Pinto, yeah, a link to a voicemail makes no sense, ahaha.
Sara Pinto, so true! I was partially raised by Google.
Mónica Freitas, that makes sense! I hope we all become a little more cautious though!