Scammers Love Your LinkedIn More Than Recruiters (Fix this now)
A short guide for LinkedIn Privacy
You’re job hunting.
You get a message on LinkedIn—remote role, great salary, well-known company. You get a sudden feeling of relief.
The recruiter sounds legit.
They’ve got your experience right. They reference past projects. It feels real.
After a quick back-and-forth, they ask you to set up an interview with a hiring manager on Teams. It’s not WhatsApp so doesn’t seem shady. You conduct your “interview” with a professional sounding “hiring manager”.
Everything is exactly what you were hoping for. They send over a polished offer letter.
The next step? A background check form.
You upload your license. Share your Social Security number. Even your bank info for “direct deposit.”
Two days later, your bank flags a suspicious transaction. A credit card was opened in your name. A loan application is pending.
The company? Doesn’t exist.
The recruiter? Fake.
And now your personal data is in the wind.
No one hacked you.
They didn’t need to.
They just used your LinkedIn profile—and your trust—to walk right in.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how these scams work—and the settings you need to adjust right now to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.
Let’s Talk About The Problem
LinkedIn is supposed to be the professional platform. That’s exactly why it’s become a hunting ground for scammers.
Think about it—people list their full work history, job titles, education, city, connections, certifications… all in one place.
Scammers don’t have to dig. They just scroll.
And if you’re actively job searching? You’re even more vulnerable. You’re likely:
More trusting of inbound messages.
More willing to share personal info.
Less likely to question a recruiter who “knows” your background.
If that wasn’t bad enough:
Most scams on LinkedIn don’t feel like scams. They’re designed to feel like opportunities.
These attackers don’t need malware or brute-force attacks. They just need you to believe the right message at the wrong time.
And it’s working.
According to the FBI, reported business-related scams on LinkedIn rose over 55% in the last year.
In 2024, LinkedIn themselves warned users about rising fraud tied to job offers, fake recruiters, and cloned profiles.
Victims lose anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands—sometimes without realizing it until it’s too late.
This isn’t hypothetical. It’s happening right now, and most users have no idea how exposed they really are.
How the Scam Works (and Why It’s So Easy to Fall For)
Scammers leverage human psychology to set the trap…
They Start With Your Profile
Everything they need to impersonate you—or target you—is probably public:
Full name
Current company
Past job titles
Education
Certifications
Photo
City or region
This gives them two powerful angles:
Pretend to be you (clone your profile and message your contacts).
Craft a fake job offer that seems tailor-made for your background.
They don’t guess your industry. They already know it.
They Use Trust Signals Against You
Scammers mimic the exact style and language of real recruiters.
They often:
Use fake company domains that look legit (e.g.
careers-google.net)Reference real people or job titles
Share semi-believable job descriptions and documents
Offer high pay with minimal hoops
It looks real and irresistible. That’s the point.
They Escalate Fast—Before You Think to Question It
The goal is to move from LinkedIn to email (or Teams) ASAP—where there’s no fraud detection.
Then they hit you with urgency:
“We just need to confirm identity.”
“Our HR team needs this form back today.”
“We can’t move forward without your direct deposit info.”
They make it feel like a normal onboarding step. And because it started on LinkedIn, it doesn’t trigger red flags.
They Exploit One Setting You Probably Forgot About
Your connections are visible by default. That means:
They can see who you know.
They can impersonate you and message your contacts.
They can build fake trust with just a few shared mutuals.
This is one of the most dangerous settings people never think to change—and it’s how scams spread once they start.
Your Weekend Win: Fix These LinkedIn Settings in 10 Minutes
This isn’t about hiding your entire profile or making it useless for networking. These settings remove the open doors scammers use to walk right in.
1. Hide Your Connections
Why: If your connections are public, scammers can pose as you and message your contacts—or use your network to appear more legit.
How:
Go to your LinkedIn profile > click Settings.
Under Visibility, select Visibility of your connections.
Set it to Only you.
2. Limit Who Can See Your Email
Why: LinkedIn often exposes your email by default. Bots and scammers scrape it to send phishing emails that seem targeted and credible.
How:
In Settings, go to Visibility > Who can see or download your email address.
Set it to Only visible to me (or at minimum, 1st-degree connections).
3. Turn Off Profile Visibility for Non-Connections
Why: Recruiters don’t need full access to your page if you haven’t applied for a role. And scammers absolutely shouldn’t have it.
How:
Go to Settings > Visibility > Profile viewing options.
Set it to Private mode or Semi-private (title only) depending on comfort level.
4. Restrict Who Can Message You
Why: Open InMail = open scam channel.
How:
Go to Settings > Data Privacy > Messages > Who can send you messages.
Disable Allow Message Requests if you’re not actively networking.
You can also limit InMail by unchecking "Allow InMail messages from recruiters" (if you're not currently job hunting).
5. Audit Third-Party Apps Linked to LinkedIn
Why: Old job platforms, resume tools, or random services may still have access to your account.
How:
Go to Settings > Data privacy > Permitted services.
Revoke access to anything you don’t recognize or use anymore.
6. Enable Login Alerts
Why: If someone tries to access your account from a new device or location, you want to know.
How:
In Sign in & security > Account access > Where you’re signed in, check your sessions.
Under Security > Login alerts, turn on email notifications for new logins.
7. Turn Off Data Sharing for AI Training
Why: LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) can use your profile, posts, and activity data to train AI models. That includes things like your job history, what you click on, and how you interact.
How:
Go to Settings > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.
Toggle this off to prevent your content from being fed into AI systems.
Even if you don’t post often, your interactions—what you view, comment on, or even hover over—can still be collected. Turning this off keeps your data out of the AI meat grinder.
Bonus tip: While you’re here you can check your data history and look for anything suspicious. You can also request a copy of the data LinkedIn has on you. Note this needs to be done from desktop not on your phone.
This Is Just the Start…Here’s The Next Step
If scammers can pull this off using just your LinkedIn profile…
What do you think they could do with your Google history?
Your Amazon orders?
All the data you’ve been leaking for years?
Most people are walking around with dozens of open data leaks—settings they’ve never touched, apps they forgot they even signed into, and platforms collecting everything down to their keystrokes.
And the truth is: locking down LinkedIn is a win—but it’s not enough.
That’s why I put together something bigger.
A complete system for people who are ready to stop bleeding personal data online—without going off the grid.
It’s called the Digital Detox Clinic.
Inside, I’ll walk you through the exact steps to:
find and delete old-inactive accounts
clean up your social media
opt-out of data brokers the right way
shut down surveillance settings
and take back control of your digital life—one fix at a time.
I even give you a system to keep this from unraveling long term.
Because if LinkedIn was this easy to clean up… imagine what’s still wide open.
Let’s Talk
Ever gotten a sketchy message from a “recruiter” on LinkedIn?
Have you ever second-guessed whether that job offer—or even that profile—was real?
Drop your story in the comments. If it’s happened to you, it’s probably happening to someone in your network right now.
And if this post made you double-check your own settings, restack it so more people can lock down their profiles before they get hit.
Because the next fake recruiter might be in someone else’s inbox already.
Join me Monday for The Privacy Files
I have a brand new episode of The Privacy Files on Monday at 6pm EST that is sure to be shocking and enlightening. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss it.
Until then…
I used to use LI for jobs but all I got was recruiters who never followed through. Indeed seemed like a better platform but they aren’t great either. I deleted all my career accounts now and only focus on ones I need.
Thanks, I followed your recommendations. But then I decided to put the account on 'non active' because I am not looking for a (new) job.