On LinkedIn’s website, fraudulent accounts are known to exist. Now, it wants to assist users in locating them.

 

 

 

LinkedIn, which is frequently regarded as a more subdued social network, is not immune to inauthentic behaviour, which experts say can be difficult to spot and is frequently carried out by knowledgeable and adaptable bad actors.

The professional networking site has been under fire in the past year for fraudulent profiles that name significant firms as their employers or apply for high-profile job positions, as well as accounts with artificial intelligence-generated profile photographs used for marketing or pushing cryptocurrency.

In an effort to foster trust on a platform that is frequently essential for job searching and developing professional connections, LinkedIn is now introducing new features to help users assess the authenticity of other accounts before engaging with them, the company said in a statement to CNN Business.

Reports had it that, while we continually invest in our defenses” against inauthentic behavior, LinkedIn product management vice president Oscar Rodriguez said in an interview, “from my perspective, the best defense is empowering our members on decisions about how they want to engage.”

According to CNN Business, LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft (MSFT), says it already removes 96% of fake accounts using automated defenses. In the second half of 2021, the company removed 11.9 million fake accounts at registration and another 4.4 million before they were ever reported by other users, according to its latest transparency report.

(LinkedIn does not disclose an estimate for the total number of fake accounts on its platform.)

Starting this week, however, LinkedIn is rolling out to some users the opportunity to verify their profile using a work email address or phone number.

That verification will be incorporated into a new, “About this Profile” section that will also show when a profile was created and last updated, to give users additional context about an account they may be considering connecting with.

i.e If an account was created very recently and has other potential red flags, such as an unusual work history, it could be a sign that users should proceed with caution when interacting with it.

 

We hope this would be a new development for LinkedIn users…