Call me paranoid like my kids do. But when I get a businessperson’s request to join a contact network, or to update my contact information through a Web service, I ignore them because I’m sure someday one of them will be sent by a phisher. Not to mention, I imagine worse things that could happen with that information should pirates be trolling around inside the contact network. At the very least, users of the system should ask themselves how it handles their name and image before diving into these things. From the below example, it looks as if my pal, Doug, doesn’t really give a damn that I’m getting spammed under his good name. And this was the second request for my information, even though on the bottom of each mail is a disclaimer saying this is the only solicitation I’d get. Lastly, the second part beneath the dashes is really disturbing. This is where they make the marketing materials look as if they’re written by Doug himself by signing off in his name. Not to mention the marketing section starts out with the words, “Since you are a person I trust,” which kind of reminds me of the Nigerian Scam. Go ahead, call me paranoid. But for laughs, read the mail below:
On May 12, Doug (namedremoved) sent you an invitation to become part of Doug’s professional network at LinkedIn. On Friday (June 3), this invitation will expire. Follow this link to accept Doug’s invitation: https://www.linkedin.com/e/isd/1470970118/Z4ZjpvuE/ Signing up is free and takes less than a minute. > ================= > HERE’S THE PART I LOVE: > Since you are a person I trust, I wanted to invite you to join my network on LinkedIn. > > I’m using it to discover inside connections I didn’t know I had. It’s interesting to see the level of access you can have with only a few people in your network. > > It’s free to join and only takes a minute to sign up and join my network. > > – Doug The only way to get access to Doug’s professional network is through the following link: https://www.linkedin.com/e/isd/14709618/Z4ZjpvuE/ You can remove yourself from Doug’s network at any time. ————– The pending expiration of your invitation is an automatic process triggered by system maintenance. This is the only email message you will receive from LinkedIn about the expiration of this invitation from Doug.
