LinkedIn rolls out new anti-scam features

LinkedIn, as a platform, is gradually mixing more work with pleasure. This transformation has also attracted more spam and scams, forcing it to roll out new features in an effort to maintain its integrity.

The new features come after Microsoft’s social network revealed a spike in malicious activity in its latest transparency report. It blocked 58 million accounts between July and December last year, an increase of 22 million spam accounts blocked in the previous six months.

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As a remedy, the platform plans to verify accounts and jobs being advertised to protect job seekers from possible scams. It has multiple verification options, including sending a code to a company’s email address or verifying through CLEAR, a system that requires US company credentials for verification. Non-US companies will need to use other certification methods. It says it is also expanding access to more free verification tools.

“When you see verifications on job posts, that means there is information that has been verified as authentic by the job poster, LinkedIn, or one of our partners,” notes the platform in a blog post.

Companies that are advertising jobs will be required to display more detail about the actual company and the job being posted.

LinkedIn will also give warnings for messages that appear to be scams.

“We may warn you about messages that ask you to take the conversation to another platform because that can be a sign of a scam. These warnings will also give you the choice to report the content without letting the sender know,” said LinkedIn in a post last year when it initially announced the features.

If you live in South Africa, where unemployment is skyrocketing and scams have become as familiar as load shedding, this feature could protect job seekers from various crimes. You’ve probably heard of prospective employees who are asked to pay a fee to secure an interview or worse, job seekers who are invited to deserted buildings where they’re subjected to a range of gruesome crimes.