Freelancers, Protect Yourself from This LinkedIn Scam
By Cara Siera
Scammers have been targeting freelancers on LinkedIn. I’ve personally been targeted three times in the past month. LinkedIn is doing an excellent job of identifying and deleting the fraudulent accounts involved, but here’s everything you need to know to protect yourself from this LinkedIn scam.
Freelancers Targeted on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an amazing resource for business networking. I have had first contact with a number of legitimate clients who found me on LinkedIn.
But scammers are always looking for new ways to beat the system. A very specific scam is currently circulating on the LinkedIn platform. If you’re a work-from-home/work-from-anywhere freelancer, I want you to be able to recognize it so you don’t get burned.
There’s an irresistible excitement that comes from the prospect of a new client. Scammers are using that appeal and the lure of high returns to hook their victims. Here is what the freelancer client scam basically consists of:
A request for freelance services.
A willingness to pay higher-than-average costs for said services.
A request to pay via bank draft, cashier’s check, or certified check.
Profiles that are incomplete and quickly removed from LinkedIn.
How the Scam Works
Scammers know that freelancers are open to taking on new clients and that LinkedIn is a generally trusted resource for finding them. So, the scammer will reach out to you with an innocuous request, saying they found you in a LinkedIn search.
When you ask for details about the assignment, they will provide convincing ones (with a few red flags – more on that later). They’ll also offer to pay a price that’s on the highest end of the normal range. That’s enticing, especially if you usually make less.
With the bait set, they next deploy the hook. They ask about your preferred payment method and suggest using a bank draft or something similar.
What they are actually doing is fishing for your banking information. They will likely ask for your routing and account number in order to set up the payment or verify the account.
This method is nothing new. A 1996 press release by the Federal Trade Commission said that “Demand draft fraud, or the unauthorized debiting of a consumer’s checking account, is a growing problem. Currently, it is the favorite method of fraudulent actors for taking consumers’ money through fraudulent telemarketing and other scams… Many fraudulent actors persuade consumers, either over the telephone or through the mail, to divulge their checking account numbers by telling them that their bank account numbers are needed.”
What happens next? “Once a consumer provides his or her checking account number, a fraudulent actor can generate a document that looks exactly like the checks in the consumer’s checkbook – imprinted with the consumer’s name, address, phone number and, most importantly, the account numbers and the numbers necessary to route the draft through the banks’ check clearing system. The only difference is that in place of the consumer’s signature, there is a notation such as ‘pre-approved’ or ‘signature on file.’ The fraudulent actor deposits this draft the same as any conventional check, and in most cases it clears in exactly the same way as a conventional check; the lack of a handwritten signature is not a problem in processing it. "
DON’T GET SCAMMED! As noted earlier, I’ve been contacted by three such scammers this month. There have been some striking similarities in the communications I’ve received. Consider the following signs to watch for, and don’t try to do business with an entity if any of these red flags arise.
LinkedIn Scam Red Flags
Your first contact with a scammer may look like a legitimate business request, but be on the watch for these red flags.
The account holder contacts you through LinkedIn’s message feature but asks you to reply elsewhere. In one case, the scammer said they were using a “temporary” LinkedIn account and directly requested that I contact him via a given email address. In others, the email address was offered as an alternate communication method.
The LinkedIn profile disappears. LinkedIn stays on top of keeping its platform safe. Two out of three times I’ve been contacted, the scammer’s LinkedIn profile had already been deleted by the time I opened the “You’ve got a message” email from LinkedIn. In one instance, I was able to view the profile, which included a name, a company name, no photo, and no additional information. A few minutes later, it was also deleted.
The messages are marked “Potentially harmful content” by LinkedIn. After the profile has been deleted, open messages from the sender will be overlayed with a yellow cautionary box. It says in part “Content from this sender has been deemed potentially harmful. Would you like to view it anyway?” If you close the browser, the errant messages will be removed from your inbox and no longer be visible the next time you log on.
The description of services needed is oddly specific. Although the disappearing profiles let me know that the message was likely a scam, I wanted to see how they would respond to normal business questions. In two cases, I asked for more information on the project. In each case, the scammer was well prepared. They gave me the names of real organizations and stated that they needed content for informational flyers for an upcoming event. They gave titles for the articles, a time frame for completion, and an approximate word count. But in each case, the word count was oddly specific. They didn’t say “around 3,500 words” or something similar. They gave a very exact number such as 2,135 or 3,524.
They offer to pay too much. In both cases, the “client” volunteered to pay $1 per word. This is on the elite high end for content writing, and most organizations (like the community organization one woman claimed to represent) would negotiate a much lower rate. In one case, the scammer volunteered $1 per word after I quoted a price of $0.15 per word! The purpose of this is to hook the freelancer with a too-good-to-be-true promise of fast cash.
They suggest bank-related payment methods. In one case, I stated that I only accepted payments via PayPal. Few of my legitimate clients have ever taken issue with this. The scammer proposed “a certified bank draft, a cashier’s check or bank certified check.”
They ask for personal information. I ended communication with this individual after the last step, but the next no doubt would have been to ask for banking information, including the account number and routing number. Never give out this information to an unknown party!
Conclusion
LinkedIn has done a spectacular job of quickly identifying and deleting potential scammers on their platform. But for this identification to happen, they first have to contact other members. Don’t be fooled or lured in by the promise of high pay. If you are contacted by a potential client on LinkedIn, be cautious and watch out for red flags. Don’t be afraid to follow your gut and end the communication if it doesn’t feel right.
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