It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of the LinkedIn email scams, but it happened just last week. The email was perfect in appearance with the LinkedIn logo, the name of a potential new contact, a brief description of that person’s line of work, and the typical “Accept” button.
The name wasn’t familiar, but that’s not unusual. Social networks are by definition global in nature and if we only connected with people we already knew, what would be the point of using them? So, I clicked the Accept button, Safari opened, and I found myself on a page that was totally unfamiliar.
I immediately closed the window, then went back and checked the links in the email. Sure enough, none went to LinkedIn, but to the address I’d just accidentally visited. At that point, I also checked the “To” address in the email. It went to an address that is only used on our Satori Web Design site as a gateway to allow communications from site visitors. This meant that the address must have been scraped from that site; it’s the only way someone could get that address.
There were two clues that should have tipped me off to the fact that this “invitation” was a fraud. First, I should have caught the incorrect email address. Second, had I checked the Accept button link before clicking, I would have seen that it was invalid. How did I miss these two clues that were right in front of me? I was in a hurry. Pure and simple, that’s when we’re most vulnerable to scams.
Afterwards, I went into snoop mode and checked the domain name for the shopping site. It’s run by someone out of Vietnam with a 13-word name that begins with Cong and ends with Dong. Serious.
So, how many of you have gotten caught as I did? Please leave a comment because I’d love to hear your stories. If it’s really good, I’d be happy to share it in a future scam tip post.
