Avoid Getting Your LinkedIn Account Hacked

Free illustrations of Applications Today, cash and contacts are the most valuable assets on the internet. As business professionals, we spent years building up our networks to maintain visibility and to increase deal flow. Some opportunities begin with an invitation, but not all invitations are created equal. There’s a growing number of individuals on the Internet who are looking to scam LinkedIn users out of their most valuable assets: their contacts.

The names, phone numbers, email addresses and professional history of your LinkedIn network is worth money to smart scammers.

These types of scams are called phishing operations. Here are some clues that you are being targeted by a potential phisher:

1. They lack a good headshot. The profile picture is a critical tip-off as to how credible that individual is.

2. Credible contact info. If they are an employee of a corporation, they should have a corporate email account. If they have a Gmail or Yahoo email address, that may be a sign that their profile is not real.

3. Names without capital letters or misspellings. Typos and thinkos usually point to a less than credible contact.

4. Sparsity of job description and function.

5. No educational background.

6. An unrealistic job title, sometimes being identified as an Amazon executive.

7. They don’t have any recommendations or endorsements.

8. An unrealistically short contact list. Most LinkedIn individuals have at least 500 contacts. The average number of contacts is probably greater than 1,500 but still, if the individual has less than 100 contacts, they should be considered to be suspicious.

9. Upon receipt of the invitation, they sent hyperlinks for you to consider business opportunities and proposals. Anyone who sends a proposal before they are even connected should be considered suspicious.

10. No credible timeline of engagements or work positions over the course of their career.

If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.

Counsellors Title Agency, www.counsellorstitle.net, founded in 1996, is one of New Jersey’s most respected title agencies, serving all 21 New Jersey counties with title insurance, clearing title, escrow, tidelands searches, and closing and settlement services for commercial or industrial properties, waterfront properties and marinas, condominiums, townhouses or residential single-family homes. Counsellors Title also features its own Attorney Settlement Assistance Program™ [ASAP], which is an individual resource customized to fit the needs specifically of real estate attorneys, including, Documentation, Preparation, Disbursement of Funds, Attendance at Closing, HUD Preparation or Post-Closing Matters.

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