Our is desperate for your help, or some / all these animals / children / will go hungry / die.Įmails for Resale / Spam / Sales Targets: Again – this is a numbers game. Yes – there’s going to be a high incidence of those approached who know the victim is not trapped in said foreign location with no access to internet or phone, but it only takes one or two such claims to work each day, from literally thousands being initiated, to be worthwhile. Or people who are on both our Linked In contact list and our Facebook friend list… People whose profiles identify them as caring individuals. Where will those be most effective? With people who know us well enough, say, to recommend us on Linked In. The reason we get those letters is that enough of them work to make it worth the scammers’ while and so they keep on keeping on. Pitches for Cash: Many of us have received the “lost passport, phone and money – stranded in - please send cash to help me get home / pay my hotel bill” email scam, that when successful from the hacker’s perspective, has you sending $500 or $1,000 in untraceable cash to a trapped friend who’s actually off-line sipping a cool drink on a beach in Jamaica. There are certainly more possibilities than the few listed here – but let’s look at just a few in detail… All of which can be collated to provide a social map of your ecosystem. Plus, it’s not just your data – it’s the data of your contacts – and the existence of their relationship to / with you. Impersonation: Pretending to be you, on LinkedIn, and connecting with your contacts – then selling them something.Nation State sponsored Espionage / Intelligence gathering.I am not an expert in hacking – and far from an expert on criminal opportunity, but I have seen way more than enough episodes of 60 Minutes, 24, White Collar and the Blacklist to figure out numerous ways in which your data – and the data of your contacts - can assist hackers or those willing to do you harm, and how it can ultimately be monetized. Let’s start with the basic assumption that if there was no money in it, no one would be doing it.Īnd as fraud is absolutely rampant on Linked In, then let’s assume it’s because hackers can make money by doing so. And the answer to the "But why"? is money - or information that leads to money. Why does this woman want you? First of all, let's understand the woman in the picture is certainly real - but she has nothing to do with the person behind the pic who is trying to connect with you. This article seeks to answer those questions. For the full article see ) In the comments, many people agreed they had been approached by frauds / fakes, but couldn’t see what the harm or the risk was – and why or how it was worthwhile for hackers to connect with them. ( LinkedIn buried the article, but regardless, it has so far attracted 50,000+ views, 2400+ likes, 600+ comments and over 1200 shares. Last week I identified 12 different ways you can identify fake profiles and fraudulent invites on LinkedIn.
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