LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, has a growing problem with fake accounts, particularly within the cryptocurrency industry. According to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, there are currently 7,000 profiles on LinkedIn claiming to be Binance employees, with only 50 of them being genuine. In a Twitter post, Zhao expressed his frustration with the lack of a real-ID authentication system on LinkedIn and warned his followers to be careful of scammers claiming to be responsible for listing tokens on the platform.
As you can see in the image below it shows 8846 Binance Employees but CZ has already said that only 50 employees are real.
CZ has also expressed a desire that there should be such a feature in LinkedIn through which the company can verify its employees.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ) also warned that if someone on LinkedIn says "Hey I'm responsible for listing" they are scammers. Be careful.
LinkedIn has 7000 profiles of "Binance employees", of which only 50 or so are real. I wished LinkedIn has a feature to let the company verify people. So, many "hey I am responsible for listing" scammers on LinkedIn. Be careful. https://t.co/Qnsl02iQUT
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) August 14, 2022
The issue of fake accounts on LinkedIn is not new and the platform has taken steps to address it. LinkedIn reported in its transparency report for July to December 2021 that 96% of false accounts were stopped by automated techniques, and the remaining 4% were blocked manually. Additionally, the platform deliberately blocked 4.4 million accounts before users could report them. However, these efforts have not been enough to completely eliminate the problem of fake accounts, particularly within the cryptocurrency industry.
Cryptocurrency scams, in general, have been on the rise in recent years. In June 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report stating that more than 46,000 people had lost over $1 billion in cryptocurrency scams since the beginning of the year. According to the report, almost half of the people who lost digital currencies in a scam said it started with an ad, post, or message on a social media platform. LinkedIn, with its professional focus and large user base, has become a popular platform for these scams.
One common scam on LinkedIn is the unsolicited request from an apparent cryptocurrency exchange executive to project stakeholders regarding a potential token listing. These profiles are often carefully crafted to appear legitimate, with years of industry experience and multiple connections listed. However, they are often fake and the goal is to deceive individuals into investing in a non-existent token listing.
In light of this issue, it is important for LinkedIn users to be vigilant and carefully verify any requests or offers that seem too good to be true. It is also crucial for LinkedIn to continue its efforts to block fake accounts and implement stronger authentication measures to protect its users from these scams.
