by Susann Miller of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona
LinkedIn helps people reach out to colleagues and potential employers and stay connected professionally. But wherever people connect and share personal information, you can bet scammers are there too. BBB Scam Tracker has received recent reports of personal loan scams using LinkedIn to target victims.
How the Scam Works:
You get a LinkedIn message offering you financing for a personal loan. It comes from someone who appears to work for a legitimate company. You check out their LinkedIn profile, and it looks real. You may even have several LinkedIn connections in common. Some scammers will also set up a fake company website.
After receiving the message, the scam can take a couple of different approaches. In some cases, the scammers ask you to fill out a loan application with sensitive personal information and a copy of your ID and signature. The goal here is to steal your identity. In a different version, you are easily approved for the loan. However, first you are asked to pay a processing fee by wire transfer. When you pay up, the scammer takes your money and disappears.
How to Avoid a LinkedIn Loan Scam:
To avoid falling victim to a loan scam on LinkedIn:
- Set your LinkedIn privacy settings. Use your privacy settings to limit which LinkedIn users can send you messages or connection requests.
- Don’t accept every connection request you get. Check out the user’s profile before connecting. Incomplete profiles and poor grammar are red flags. Remember, just because you have connections in common, does not mean they are real. Scammers frequently create a large network to gain their victims’ trust.
- Get loans from reputable establishments. If you need a loan, it is usually best to go through a company you know you can trust. Ask your bank or credit union what you need to do to qualify.
If you are the victim of a scam or want to search scams, please go to the BBB Scam Tracker at www.bbb.org. Feel free to contact the Better Business Bureau Serving Southern Arizona at (520) 888-5353 or visit our website.
Editor’s note: Recently, both a friend and I got a phone call message (different times, but the same scheme. I happened to be with him when his call came in) where the message sender acted like she knew us, “Hey, this is Betty getting back with your credit approval…” Some scammers even spoof local numbers close to your number (same area code and prefix), so it looks legitimate. They can even “spoof” the number of a local business or neighbor, so the incoming call looks good. They may even know your name or other personal facts (home address or the car you drive. It is important to remember, for any calls received, allegedly from your bank, the FBI, IRS, sheriff’s department, credit reporting bureau, PayPal, eBay, or someplace congratulating on your winning something, and such, you can always hang up and call the organization directly, if you think there was a (slim) chance it was a real call.
