Scams on LinkedIn

The Invite

Jun 1, 2012

I received an invite from a certain Shane Lee on LinkedIn, who claimed he was a CFO of a leading UAE Bank. Being cautious about adding unknown people to my professional network, I take a second look at the profile before I click the ACCEPT button....I figured out that something was amiss.

The Work

Period: Jun 1, 2012 to Sep 30, 2012

The Truth Was Out

Jun 2, 2012

I decided to do a back ground check on Shane Lee. I dragged the image from his profile and dropped it on to Google Images and ran an images search. The search engine pointed me out to the original LinkedIn profile, from where possibly this imposter had stolen the image. The search lead me to the profile of a certain Phil Mudge, a legit real estate broker in Sydney.

The #SocialMedia Crusade

Jun 5, 2012

Having realized what a serious issue fake profiles on social media is, I created an aggressive social media crusade which involved sending out tweets, posting fake images checklists on my Facebook pages and blog.</a>

Cendrine Blogged about it

Jun 28, 2012

Renowned Social Media Blogger & Author Cendrine Marrouat who realized the implications of this new scamming practice put out a lovely blog with illustrations from my Facebook Page to show people how to distinguish between a fake profile and a real one.

Al Jazeera wrote about it

Jul 9, 2012

Thanks to Samer Bater, a lovely article about my research on fake linkedin profiles found its way into the Middle East's top news portal - Al Jazeera

Arabian Business Featured the story

Jul 9, 2012

Thanks again to Samer Bater, Arabian Business wrote a detailed story about the dangers of fake profiles with full credit to me

I blogged about it

Jul 10, 2012

I put all my research findings into a detailed and elaborate blog which became a major hit and got thousands of hits within days of posting. My blog was used as a reference for many discussions online about fake profiles and their dangers.

Contacted Dubai Police

Jul 15, 2012

When I realized things had gone out of hand and hundreds of fake profiles were created - some even using images of the UAE Royalty, I got in touch with the cyber crimes division of Dubai Police through twitter.

Mentioned in Sail E Magazine

Aug 1, 2012

My work on fake profile gets mentioned in the Sail E Magazine, thanks to Rawan Albina.

Arabian Gazette Interviews Me

Sep 1, 2012

Arabian Gazette hears about my work on fake linkedin profiles and interviews me. Thanks to Mahsoom Thotathil and Moign Kwaja for all the support.