Lots of spam is coming from fake LinkedIn accounts these days. Most of it is more scary than lame — it uses the right logo, colors, and fonts. They typically say I have new invitations or messages or that I need to confirm my email address. But some are downright lame, like this:
Sender: LinkedIn Notification [undisturbed487@uncw.edu]
Subject: LinkedIn Invitation from your official
Text:
Invite notifications:
From Timothy Vega ( Your servant) (Is this supposed to be funny? Wouldn’t I know if I had a servant? Plus, the subject said he was my official.)
PENDING LETTERS
There are a total of 1 letters waiting your action. Enter your InBox by clicking here.
Don’t need to receive email notifications? Review your letters settings.
LinkedIn respect your privacy. Not once has LinkedIn made your email address open to any another LinkedIn user without your permission. Š 2010, LinkedIn Corporation.
Another version says the pending message is from Jonas English (Your employer). Again, wouldn’t I know who my employer is?
Others came from Plato Crawford (Your co-worker), Yuli Lambert (Your classmate), Melvin Pruitt ( Your official) (my official what?), Kato Pacheco (Your friend), Harlan Day (Your Colleague), Upton Cooper ( Your employe), and so on.
Another lame LinkedIn series had subjects like “Yetta is now part of your network. Keep connecting…” and the text:
robert, Congratulations!
You and Yetta are now connected.
Yetta Schumacher (clicking on the name leads to an infected site.)
—
Cuba
Then there was the one with subject “Please confirm your discount code” and the text:
Click here to confirm your code.
Your coupon code is toronto
How to use a coupon or discount code
If you buy more than one item in an order, the coupon code will apply to the entire order. Once you’ve added an item to your cart, you can enter details about your order. Click Apply shop coupon code to open the field to enter the coupon code for your order.
The shop owner can deactivate a specific coupon code at any time. If you’re having difficulty redeeming a coupon code, please contact the seller first to see if they have discontinued use of that code in their shop.
Thank you for using Linkedln!
–The Linkedln Team
Exactly what would I be buying from a LinkedIn store?
Or the one with sender LinkedIn Connections [connections@linkedin.com] and subject: “Your credit card is blocked”. No further attempt was made to make it look like it came from LinkedIn. In fact, the signature line said it came from VISA:
Dear Consumer,
WARNING: Your credit card has been blocked!
With your credit card was removed USD 817,26
Possibly illegal operation!
VIEW YOUR STATEMENT
Instantly contact your bank .
Best regards, VISA CUSTOMER SERVICES.
Or the one that said it came from LinkedIn Password [password@linkedin.com] with subject “Re: Fwd: Wire Transfer”. It told me that my wire transfer had failed. Boy, LinkedIn has a lot of business lines going.
I think favorite lame LinkedIn spam was the one that said it came from LinkedIn Connections [connections@linkedin.com], provided a tracking number, and was formatted like a UPS delivery notification.
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