Many social networking sites are not able to verify the identity of those who join
Scammers hook up over LinkedIn
/v3-uk/news/1960265/scammers-hook-linkedin
21 Apr 2008, Robert Jaques , V3
Social networks such as LinkedIn are being exploited by online fraudsters, experts warned today.
Security firm BitDefender said that LinkedIn users are receiving emails requesting invitations to be added to other users' social networks.
Users may be more inclined to believe the emails because they come through the official channels, and they also slip past spam filters.
The scammers have even set up a fake profile page on LinkedIn. However, once the connection is made, the scammers then groom the users to participate in an advance fee fund scam, more commonly known as the Nigerian 419 fraud.
"This new twist to the old 419 scheme is more dangerous as there is an increased chance for network users to fall for the scam since they use it to build up their businesses or careers and thus tend to grant it some implicit trust," said Bogdan Dumitru, chief technology officer at BitDefender.
Dumitru noted that many sites, such as LinkedIn, are not able to verify the identity of those who join.
BitDefender also said that other social networking sites are likely to be used by fraudsters for similar scams.
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Do you agree?
LinkedIn already provides warnings
It was only a matter of time...
LinkedIn has almost always including text recommending that invitations are not accepted from people you don't know. Even if legitimate, it gives those strangers access to information about you which could be used in a way that is counter-productive for you personally (contant requests for introductions to others, details of your past being passed to others).
ANY issues on LinkedIn can be avoided by only saying Accept to those people you know.
Finally, if you Reject an invitation it trips a count and when the sender gets five rejections then they need to enter the e-mail address of whomever they wish to contact to avoid spamming of this sort. If this is still working then selecting Reject on LinkedIn contacts that smell like 419 scams should limit the time they can use a real profile for the exercise.
Posted by Ian Hendry, 22 Apr 2008