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If you are on LinkedIn, getting connection requests from strangers is not familiar, but it is essential to know if the request is genuine and not fake.
The incidence of fake LinkedIn accounts has become a hot problem for the social networking giant. Some spammers are more intelligent than others, and some counterfeit accounts will need a closer inspection to spot them.
Fake profiles on LinkedIn can have several hundred connections, as well as a handful of Skill Endorsements. They belong to several groups and follow a couple of companies and influencers.
It would be easy to spot a fake account if you know what to look for. Often, you can analyze common patterns and signs amongst fake LinkedIn profiles. Here are a few criteria that can be used when gauging legitimate profiles against fake ones!
Top-notch Ways to Spot Fake LinkedIn Accounts
1. Receiving requests from many people in the Same Company
Suppose you start receiving numerous unusual invites from people from the same company (unless for a specific reason, such as an event). In such cases, this is usually the sign of fake LinkedIn accounts. They will often be well-known companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Bank of America, etc.
Another indicator to look for would be many requests from people with similar, generic headlines.
2. Suspicious Profile Image
Images are also an excellent way to identify fake accounts. If a profile photo looks like a photo from stock, you can look it up with Google search by image. This will promptly tell you if the picture has been used elsewhere on the web.
While many real people still use logos as their image, a genuine picture, like a flower or another random object, can also be a warning sign of a fake LinkedIn profile.
Pictures of celebrities are also a dead giveaway, as are pictures of women in suggestive-looking poses. Some spammers are not that pro; you may even see a profile where the image is of a woman, but the profile has the name of a man or vice versa.
3. Less Personal Information
A common denominator between many fake LinkedIn accounts is the lack of personal information about that individual.
There are primarily generic statements that need more specificity in the summary and experience sections.
Profiles by real people often incorporate personal details such as causes, volunteering, interests, education, and suggestions and use the first person when writing sections like the Summary or Experience. This isn’t to say that profiles written in the third person are not real. We barely suggest that profiles written in the first person tend to be fake LinkedIn accounts less often.
I open the profiles of people who sent me connection invites to look for any red flags that might cause me to question their genuineness. I tend to deny the connection request if it’s a close call and I can’t tell.
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4. Suspiciously Good Looking People
That may sound funny, and truthfully, it isn’t a reliable sign on its own, but it can paint a bigger picture when it’s among other red flags.
5. Premium Members Can Be Fakes Too
It’s seldom, but even fake accounts will sometimes have a Premium LinkedIn membership, so don’t unquestioningly accept an invite without a look at their profile.
Fake LinkedIn Accounts Aren’t Your Only Concern
As you want to ignore connecting with fake or spam accounts on LinkedIn, you don’t need to protect your network or account like you would on Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional platform that can help you build and stretch your network.
That said, it doesn’t mean you should connect with every non-spammer who sends you a connection invite. The quality of your network is important, but I don’t think it’s essential or beneficial to decline a connection request only because you have never met the person before.
Look Out for The Lions
I also personally ignore connecting with LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers).
Such people put LION in their headlines as a sign to show that they will connect with anyone, including spammers and fake accounts. I find such people have a very low-quality network and don’t typically like communicating with them.
I believe in stretching your network, but there has to be an aim for each party to be connected. Also Read: Revolution in Social Media for Higher Engagement through AI
Checklist for Identifying a Valuable Connection
Once you have identified that an account belongs to a genuine person and is not a fake profile, there are still a few key points you may want to consider before accepting the request:
Did they send a customized request?
Do they speak or write in the same language as you?
Could this person be a prospect or strategic alliance partner?
Is the person a competitor, and is there any advantage to being connected
How Do You Identify Fake LinkedIn Accounts?
Suppose you are recently under the 500+ connections. In that case, you might be allured to connect with anyone to help build your network promptly, but similar to the adverse effects of connecting with LIONs, you will need a low-quality network to serve you.
The best way to utilize LinkedIn is to build a high-quality network and connect only with high-quality connections. Then, when you reach out to communicate with your absolute connections, they will recognize that your network is full of people just like them when they research your profile.