Why do people create fake profiles on LinkedIn?
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 5:40 am
With an extensive research on this topic, I’ve figured out the below are some of the most common reasons why people create fake profiles on LinkedIn. The below are just examples in no particular order:
To disguise true identity ( As obvious as it sounds, some people try not to reveal their true identity to prospects ; for instance Human resources professionals who are known to lead people into opportunities often don’t wish to reveal their real name to prospects)
To gather email addresses for data base and spam lists (Have you received marketing, promotional and other spam emails and wondered how the sender managed to get your email address?)
To present a more enticing and desirable image ( For instance : There are some male marketers out there who pose as females, for the obvious reason that men are more attracted to good looking female profiles, and it makes united kingdom phone number resource their job easier to approach men and close sales)
To gather a huge network of connections which could possibly be traded for cash to companies ( In today’s world information and connections are key to success)
To appear more qualified or successful (For instance : People claiming to be alumni at a famous University or ex employer of a fortune 500 company lands them chance to connect with someone who would not have accepted the connection otherwise)
To insult or attack a rival company posing as/ pretending to be a whistleblower or to impersonate employee of a rival company and issue public insults in their name
What are the signs of a LinkedIn fake profile?
The signs of fake profiles are varied and generally fall into the following issues/categories based on my own understanding of this. However please take into consideration that the below signs individually do not indicate a fake profile, but multiple signs within a single profile vastly increase the chances of the profile being fake.
Name issues
Picture issues
Education issues
Employment issues
?
1. Name issues:
Name issues are within the name of the suspect profile.
Generic name like Steward Williams, John Smith, Simon Peter etc
Usage of Lower case first and last name (I easily spot fake profiles based on this charecteristic)
Rhythmic names like Sam Smith, Joe Johnson, Shane Lee etc sounding straight out of a Novel or Movie. Basically, if the name looks like one of those "from" names you find in spam e-mail, it's suspicious.
Clearly Implausible names like Jovito Estera for a female (which is clearly obviously an eastern male name)
Strange Sounding company names like eg "bei MaE Service Agency" found on a fake recruiters profile (pic below). Some fake profiles use real companies especially fortune 500 ones, others use fictional company names
Badly capitalized names (all lower case, or ALL CAPS, or just bad caps). People who can't spell their own names or capitalize their own names right are probably bots. At the minimum they are unprofessional.
To disguise true identity ( As obvious as it sounds, some people try not to reveal their true identity to prospects ; for instance Human resources professionals who are known to lead people into opportunities often don’t wish to reveal their real name to prospects)
To gather email addresses for data base and spam lists (Have you received marketing, promotional and other spam emails and wondered how the sender managed to get your email address?)
To present a more enticing and desirable image ( For instance : There are some male marketers out there who pose as females, for the obvious reason that men are more attracted to good looking female profiles, and it makes united kingdom phone number resource their job easier to approach men and close sales)
To gather a huge network of connections which could possibly be traded for cash to companies ( In today’s world information and connections are key to success)
To appear more qualified or successful (For instance : People claiming to be alumni at a famous University or ex employer of a fortune 500 company lands them chance to connect with someone who would not have accepted the connection otherwise)
To insult or attack a rival company posing as/ pretending to be a whistleblower or to impersonate employee of a rival company and issue public insults in their name
What are the signs of a LinkedIn fake profile?
The signs of fake profiles are varied and generally fall into the following issues/categories based on my own understanding of this. However please take into consideration that the below signs individually do not indicate a fake profile, but multiple signs within a single profile vastly increase the chances of the profile being fake.
Name issues
Picture issues
Education issues
Employment issues
?
1. Name issues:
Name issues are within the name of the suspect profile.
Generic name like Steward Williams, John Smith, Simon Peter etc
Usage of Lower case first and last name (I easily spot fake profiles based on this charecteristic)
Rhythmic names like Sam Smith, Joe Johnson, Shane Lee etc sounding straight out of a Novel or Movie. Basically, if the name looks like one of those "from" names you find in spam e-mail, it's suspicious.
Clearly Implausible names like Jovito Estera for a female (which is clearly obviously an eastern male name)
Strange Sounding company names like eg "bei MaE Service Agency" found on a fake recruiters profile (pic below). Some fake profiles use real companies especially fortune 500 ones, others use fictional company names
Badly capitalized names (all lower case, or ALL CAPS, or just bad caps). People who can't spell their own names or capitalize their own names right are probably bots. At the minimum they are unprofessional.