Message from The Profiler 🕵🏾‍♂️🔎: How to Spot Fake Jobs Before They Spot You

Hey friends, lately, more and more people have been getting scammed on LinkedIn by fake recruiters, fake jobs, and even fake companies. These scams don’t just waste your time, they can put your personal information at risk.

That’s why I asked Jay Jones, also known as The Profiler, to share his expertise. Jay has personally helped remove over 30,000 fake jobs and thousands of fake profiles from LinkedIn. He’s seen first-hand how scammers are getting better at blending in and tricking jobseekers. 

In this edition, he breaks down the biggest red flags to look out for, from too-good-to-be-true salaries to recruiters using Gmail addresses, and he shares practical steps you can take to protect yourself. Before you click “Easy Apply” or send your resume, you’ll want to read this.

Scammers are clever, but they’re not smarter than an informed jobseeker. Let’s make sure you don’t fall victim.

Hey, I’m Jay Jones and known as The Profiler 🕵🏾‍♂️. I’m honored to have been asked by Jalonni to contribute to this newsletter. As many have noticed, there are some major issues happening on LinkedIn regarding the scammers, fake jobs and fake companies. I’ve gotten 31,859 fake jobs and over 7,000 fake profiles removed from LinkedIn.

Most of them were comprised of fake resume writers, recruiters, C-suite, hiring managers, career coaches, basically any real job a scammer can’t possibly get. There are obvious scammers, but here’s an uncomfortable truth: scammers are getting very good at blending in.

Collectively, they’re clogging the job market, wasting time, and in too many cases, stealing data from professionals just trying to land their next role.

I’ve spent nearly two years investigating and helping remove tens of thousands of these fake jobs across the platform, and I want to share some quick tips to help you stay safe

🚩Red Flags in LinkedIn Job Posts🚨

• Boilerplate descriptions: If the posting looks generic and could fit dozens of roles, it’s likely scraped and taken from elsewhere. Many times, the job expired months ago. Here’s the twist, job scraping isn’t illegal, but it should be.

• No company footprint: Check the company page. Is it newly created with few employees, or no activity at all? Scammers often spin up fake company profiles as bait.

• Too good to be true: Immediate offers, salaries well above market, or "no experience required" for high-level roles usually mean it’s not real.

• Personal email addresses: Legit recruiters won’t use Gmail, Outlook, Proton, AOL or Yahoo to recruit. Always check the domain against the actual company.

• Strange external links: Be careful with “apply here” links that take you outside LinkedIn to unsecured websites asking for personal details. The “Easy Apply” feature when abused is resume collection on auto pilot for scammers.

Safe Moves to Protect Yourself

• Research before you click: Cross-check the hiring manager or recruiter. A blank LinkedIn profile with no work history is often fake.

• Look up the company directly: Go to the company’s official site—if the role isn’t posted there, treat the LinkedIn version as suspicious.

• Check the company’s address: If it’s one that leads to a coworking space that means the company’s overseas and using this location to appear stateside.

• The Delaware/New Jersey connection: These two states are known for their ease regarding setting up businesses. Scammers know this and will file paperwork using these states as company locations because both states offer features that make it easy to form companies with minimal scrutiny and, in the case of Delaware, substantial anonymity and tax benefits. This attracts legitimate businesses and bad actors seeking to hide identities, obscure company ownership, or evade certain regulations.

• Guard your resume: Do not share it publicly. Your resume is enough to set you up to have your identity stolen if placed in the wrong hands. Don’t upload your full SSN, date of birth, or unnecessary personal info. Scammers thrive on oversharing.

• Know the redirection trick: Many fake jobs redirect you to “application portals” designed to harvest your data. Stick to trusted channels. Don’t upload info into a sketchy looking Google form.

• Report don’t engage: If it feels off, don’t argue with the poster. Report the job/profile and tell me about it and I’ll investigate.

This job market is the worst I’ve ever seen and people older than me say the same. I’m doing all I can to stop and force things to change. Information is key because and informed target is harder to scam.

This is the kind of work I do every day as The Profiler—tracking and removing bad actors to keep all real professionals safer in this job market safer. If you’ve been targeted, or if you want to make sure your team doesn’t fall for it, reach out to me and we can work together on a plan to put it to an end.

I have numerous resources and some of them are below:

- The Profiler’s Scam Detection Guide, Vol 1.

-  Live Webinar, “How to Protect your Brand and Job Seekers from Scams” 

Scammers try many ways to con you, but their intellect will always be their greatest impediment.

Remember, I never accused them of being smart.

Stay vigilant.

#TheProfiler 🕵🏾‍♂

Your donation helps protect professionals from scams. ⤵️
https://lnkd.in/gBq9Dgrj 

To support directly:
☕ Buy me a coffee = https://lnkd.in/g4epPHRv
 📌 Venmo = @mrjonescopy
 📌 PayPal = @jonescopy
 📌 Cash App = $TheProfiler️

Tip of the Day 🕵🏾‍♂️

If a recruiter reaches out using a personal email like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, take a pause. Legit recruiters almost always use a company domain. Double-check the company’s official website to confirm the role is real before you share any personal details.

Stay sharp, because scammers are getting better at looking real — but an informed jobseeker is much harder to fool.