a*****n
发帖数: 1 | 1 FBI says fraud on LinkedIn a 'significant threat' to platform and consumers
http://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/06/17/fbi-says-fraud-on-linkedin-a-significant-threat-to-platform-and-consumers.html
KEY POINTS
The FBI says investment fraudsters pose a "significant threat" to LinkedIn.
Users around the country tell CNBC they lost small fortunes after connecting
with someone on LinkedIn who they believed was giving them sound financial
advice.
The company acknowledges a recent increase in fraud and says it removed 32
million fake accounts last year.
SAN FRANCISCO — Fraudsters who exploit LinkedIn to lure users into
cryptocurrency investment schemes pose a "significant threat" to the
platform and consumers, according to Sean Ragan, the FBI's special agent in
charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California, field offices.
"It's a significant threat," Ragan said in an exclusive interview. "This
type of fraudulent activity is significant, and there are many potential
victims, and there are many past and current victims."
CNBC: Sean Ragan, FBI special agent
Sean Ragan, FBI special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento
field offices.
Source: CNBC
The scheme works like this: A fraudster posing as a professional creates a
fake profile and reaches out to a LinkedIn user. The scammer starts with
small talk over LinkedIn messaging, and eventually offers to help the victim
make money through a crypto investment. Victims interviewed by CNBC say
since LinkedIn is a trusted platform for business networking, they tend to
believe the investments are legitimate.
Typically, the fraudster directs the user to a legitimate investment
platform for crypto, but after gaining their trust over several months,
tells them to move the investment to a site controlled by the fraudster. The
funds are then drained from the account.
"So the criminals, that's how they make money, that's what they focus their
time and attention on," Ragan said. "And they are always thinking about
different ways to victimize people, victimize companies. And they spend
their time doing their homework, defining their goals and their strategies,
and their tools and tactics that they use."
Ragan said the FBI has seen an increase in this particular investment fraud,
which is different from a long-running scam in which the criminal pretends
to show a romantic interest in the subject to persuade them to part with
their money. The FBI confirmed it has active investigations but could not
comment since they are open cases.
In a statement, LinkedIn acknowledged there has been a recent uptick of
fraud on its platform, telling CNBC that "we enforce our policies, which are
very clear: fraudulent activity, including financial scams, are not allowed
on LinkedIn. We work every day to keep our members safe, and this includes
investing in automated and manual defenses to detect and address fake
accounts, false information, and suspected fraud."
"We work with peer companies and government agencies from across the world
with the goal of keeping LinkedIn members safe from bad actors. If a member
encounters or is the victim of a scam we ask that they report it to us and
to local law enforcement."
LinkedIn's senior director of trust, privacy and equity, Oscar Rodriguez,
said, "trying to identify what is fake and what is not fake is incredibly
difficult."
"One of the things that I would really love for us to do more is get into
proactive education for members," Rodriguez said. "Letting members know or
basically allowing them to understand the risks that they might face."
The company says it removed more than 32 million fake accounts from its
platform in 2021, according to its semiannual report on fraud. From July to
December 2021, its automated defenses stopped 96% of all fake accounts —
that includes 11.9 million that were stopped at registration and 4.4 million
that were proactively restricted, the report said. Members reported 127,000
fake profiles that were also removed.
LinkedIn said its automated defenses caught 99.1% of spam and scams, a total
of 70.8 million, in that same time period. Another 179,000 were removed
after members reported them. LinkedIn said it doesn't provide estimates on
how much money has been stolen from members through its platform.
The company cautioned users in a Thursday night blog post on its platform
against sending money to people they don't know and responding to accounts
with a questionable work history or other red flags, such as poor grammar.
That's little comfort to Mei Mei Soe, a Florida benefits manager who says
she lost $288,000 — her entire life savings — to a scammer on LinkedIn. It
started out innocently enough with someone whose profile said he was a
manager at a Los Angeles fitness company seeking to connect with her last
December. They began chatting first over LinkedIn and then on a messaging
app, and she said she was intrigued by his offer to help her make money.
CNBC: Mei Mei Soe, fraud victim
Mei Mei Soe, fraud victim
Source: CNBC
"He asked me if I'm on LinkedIn for professional networking or if I'm
looking for a job," Soe said. "I never trust anybody, but we began talking
and over time he gained my trust."
Soe said when the conversation eventually turned to investing, "he showed me
how he's profiting from his investments and told me I should start
investing with crypto.com which I know is a legitimate website. I started
with $400."
The fraudster convinced her to move her investments to a site he controlled.
Over several months, Soe would make a total of nine transactions, which
included bank loans and money borrowed from friends, hoping to use her
earnings to start a small business. But Soe would soon learn that the
connection she made on LinkedIn wasn't who he said he was. In the end, she
lost all of her funds.
"I still remember the day," Soe said. "Once I realized I had been scammed, I
tried to contact him but couldn't find him anywhere. I work hard, and every
single dollar I save, I work hard to save that. It hurts."
She said she never thought she would get scammed on LinkedIn.
Crypto.com said it immediately takes down accounts that it finds are linked
to a scam.
"We take a proactive approach to managing and protecting against external
threats, including scam and phishing campaigns," it said in a statement to
CNBC. "As with all financial transactions, fiat or crypto, it is critical to
ensure the account receiving funds is legitimate and its owner is
identified and trustworthy prior to the transfer."
Soe's story is not unique. A group of victims defrauded on LinkedIn which
meets regularly over Zoom recently invited a CNBC reporter to join the
session, as long as the participants' faces were concealed and their names
not revealed. Their losses ranged from $200,000 to $1.6 million.
"We just never thought there could be such malicious intent behind a
LinkedIn profile," one victim who lost $350,000 said.
"The fraudsters hide behind successful companies," another victim who lost $
200,000 said. "One of the biggest reasons I accepted the invite was the
person stated on their profile that they worked for a legitimate company."
"We've lost a lot of money," a victim who lost $700,000 said. "And it's not
just all of our savings, people have lost their houses and their car loans.
It's life destroying and soul crushing."
Ragan said he understands the victims' pain, but they should not blame
themselves.
"It's not their fault that they were victimized," Ragan said. "It's the
perpetrator's fault. It's the criminal's fault. They spend their nights and
days thinking about ways to victimize and defraud people. That's how they
make their money through illicit gains. And the people that fall victim to
it, they're victims."
The Global Anti-Scam Organization, a victim advocacy and support group, has
traced the majority of the perpetrators to Southeast Asia.
"They usually target victims on LinkedIn by showing that they have some
entrepreneurial spirit," Grace Yuen, Global Anti-Scam Organization
spokesperson, said. "They may claim they graduated from a well-known
university, then they say they're in finance or in investment. Sometimes
they even pretend to be in the same industry as you." | Q*****i
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【在 a*****n 的大作中提到】
: FBI says fraud on LinkedIn a 'significant threat' to platform and consumers
: http://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/06/17/fbi-says-fraud-on-linkedin-a-significant-threat-to-platform-and-consumers.html
: KEY POINTS
: The FBI says investment fraudsters pose a "significant threat" to LinkedIn.
: Users around the country tell CNBC they lost small fortunes after connecting
: with someone on LinkedIn who they believed was giving them sound financial
: advice.
: The company acknowledges a recent increase in fraud and says it removed 32
: million fake accounts last year.
: SAN FRANCISCO — Fraudsters who exploit LinkedIn to lure users into
| k*****g
发帖数: 1 | | e*******e
发帖数: 9616 | 4 很搞笑的是几个月前这波刚开始时有个长相平均线一下的女马工,我以为行业上有联系
就加了，结果天天给我LinkedIn站内发信闷骚，
尼玛你也不瞧瞧你丫挺的贴的是啥厂妹村姑的照片，卧槽，删了 |
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