Social networks interconnect people with common interests in near real time on a global scale. That’s the power of social media. And it’s also a beacon to cyberscammers.
Fraudulent job offers from alluring recruiters are spreading at a faster pace on LinkedIn, according to Bitdefender.
Security researchers from the Romanian anti-malware vendor recently helped expose a LinkedIn profile put up by an attractive, bogus recruiter, “Annabella Erica.” Scammers had injected her profile into Global Jobs Network, an authentic LinkeIn group, comprised of 167,000 users.
Ms. Erica, it turns out, existed to help the scammers gather e-mail addresses and passwords useful in a wide array of identity theft capers.
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Corporate spokesman Julie Inouye tells CyberTruth that LinkedIn immediately removes profiles that are found to be spreading inappropriate content or engage in spam or phishing.
The company also scans URL’s against known blacklists and blocks sites known to be engaged the distribution of malware, spam or phishing sites, she says.
But, at the end of the day, it comes down to social media user caution. “We advise that members exercise caution before clicking links and opening attachments in email messages, as that is a common vehicle for distributing phishing sites as well as malware,” says Inouye.
CyberTruth asked Bitdefender security specialist Bianca Stanescu to drill down on corrupted LinkedIn job offers.
CT: On any given day, how likely is it that a LinkedIn user will encounter a faked profile?
Stanescu: Any LinkedIn user may fall victim to job scams, no matter if he joined a LinkedIn group or not. If a user clicks the ‘like’ button on a fake recruitment announcement, he spreads it involuntarily to his connections’ home pages. Job groups are being flooded with bogus recruitment offers on a daily basis. Scammers have a fruitful business tricking people who are just looking for a job.
CT: Have you notified LinkedIn about this and other malicious profiles?
Stanescu: Yes, Bitdefender works closely with LinkedIn as one of its security partners.
CT: What is LinkedIn doing to police its services; could it be doing more?
Date: November 21, 2013