(JustPatriots.com)- According to Sean Ragan, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the San Francisco and Sacramento, California, field offices, scammers who use LinkedIn to trick users into cryptocurrency investment schemes pose a “serious threat” to the platform and users.
In an exclusive interview, Ragan said that it’s a severe threat. There are many potential victims, as well as numerous previous and present victims, of this type of fraudulent behavior.
According to the plan, a fraudster poses as a professional, creates a phony LinkedIn profile, and contacts a user. The con artist finally offers to assist the victim in making money through cryptocurrency investment, beginning with a light discussion via LinkedIn messages. According to victims surveyed, they tend to think the assets are real because LinkedIn is a reputable site for professional networking.
The fraudster typically directs the victim to a trustworthy cryptocurrency investing platform before instructing them to transfer their investment to a site under their control after earning their trust over a period of months. The money is then taken out of the account.
Since that is how criminals get income, it is where they concentrate their efforts, according to Ragan. And they are constantly considering new ways to victimize individuals and businesses. And they devote their time to doing their homework and formulating their objectives, strategies, tools, and methods.
This particular investment fraud, which differs from a long-running scam in which the con artist pretends to have a love interest in the target to get them to part with their money, has become more prevalent, according to Ragan, who added that the FBI had seen an uptick in it. Although the FBI could not comment on the ongoing investigations, it acknowledged that they are continuing.
LinkedIn stated that fraud has recently increased on its platform and that it enforces very clear regulations. Fraudulent conduct, including financial scams, is not allowed on LinkedIn. They invest in automated and manual defenses to find and deal with phony accounts, misleading information, and suspected fraud as part of their daily efforts to keep their members safe.
Their goal is to protect LinkedIn members from bad actors, and they collaborate with peer businesses and governmental organizations worldwide to achieve this.
“We kindly request that members report any scams they come across or are the victims of to both us and their local law enforcement.”
Oscar Rodriguez, senior director of trust, privacy, and equality at LinkedIn, said that detecting what is phony and what is not fake is tough.
