How to spot fake LinkedIn profiles and sales bots

Fake LinkedIn profiles have become hard to spot by looks alone. The FBI has warned that criminals use generative AI to create realistic images for fictitious social media profiles and AI-written text that reads as believable, so a polished headshot and perfect English prove nothing.

A connection request arrives from a senior partner at a firm you’ve heard of, with a few hundred connections. The first message is friendly and mentions your industry. A week later comes the real ask: review a “project brief” in an attachment, take a quick skills test, or move the conversation to WhatsApp.

A two-minute check for fake LinkedIn profiles

LinkedIn catches a lot on its own. Its transparency report says 99.7% of the fake accounts it stopped from July to December 2025 were stopped proactively, before any member report. The ones that get through are the most convincing, so run through this before you accept:

1. Look closely at the photo. AI-generated headshots can show mismatched earrings, warped glasses, blurry hair edges, strange teeth or a background that makes no sense.
2. Read the work history. Vague job titles, short tenure everywhere, no posts or comments and few recommendations from real colleagues are red flags.
3. Check for mismatches, such as a claimed senior role at a company whose own page doesn’t list the person, or a location that doesn’t fit their network.
4. Compare the account’s age with its network. A new account with hundreds of connections and no mutual contacts in your field deserves suspicion.
5. Click the verification badge. LinkedIn lets members verify their identity (in the US through CLEAR, using a government-issued ID), their workplace or their school, and the badge shows which was verified.

A verified identity tells you the person is real. It says nothing about their intentions. And a missing badge isn’t proof of a fake, though a claimed executive at a large company with no verified workplace deserves a closer look.

Red flags in LinkedIn sales bot messages

People extend more trust on LinkedIn than on other networks, and scammers use it to push low-quality or fake services, harvest contact details, run investment and cryptocurrency schemes, impersonate recruiters and gather details about your company for later phishing or payment fraud. The messages give them away more often than the profile does:

• Flattery that could apply to anyone, with no real reference to your work.
• A pitch right after connecting, especially promises of guaranteed leads, overnight growth or unusually high returns.
• A deadline, a limited offer or pressure to decide today.
• A request to continue on WhatsApp, Telegram or personal email, where LinkedIn’s protections and records don’t follow.
• Unsolicited attachments, shortened links or a document-sharing page that asks you to sign in.
• Questions about who handles payments, which software you use or who your vendors are.

Spelling mistakes can still be a clue, but don’t count on them, since AI tools write clean, natural messages in any language. Our post on how AI is changing phishing covers the same shift in email, and our post on deepfakes covers fake voices and video.

Fake recruiters are the dangerous version

This variation targets the employee instead of the buyer. The FBI has warned that North Korean state-backed groups pose as recruiters and investors from well-known firms, build rapport over weeks, then ask targets to download an app, run code for a “technical test” or open a file. That installs malware, often on a company-owned device. The FBI’s red flags are worth sharing with your whole team:

• Requests to run code or download applications on company-owned devices
• Unexpected job offers with unrealistically high pay and no negotiation
• Pressure to use unfamiliar software for routine tasks
• Requests to move professional conversations to other messaging platforms
• Unsolicited links or attachments in the first contact

An employee privately exploring a new job may not want to tell IT about the “technical test” a recruiter sent, which is exactly what the attacker is counting on. Make it clear that people can ask about a suspicious offer and nobody will ask why they were looking.

Rules to give your team

• Check before you connect: mutual connections, activity history and verification. If someone claims to work at a company, check the company’s page or call its main number.
• Never run, install or open something because a stranger asked. That includes coding tests, meeting apps and “proposal” files. Ask IT first.
• Verify money and data requests out of band. If a LinkedIn contact asks about payments or vendor details, confirm through a phone number you already have.
• Limit what your team shares publicly. Org charts, vendor names and finance roles help attackers write convincing messages.
• Report and block fake profiles and suspicious messages, so LinkedIn can remove them for everyone.
• Include social media lures in security awareness training alongside email phishing.

Our clients get phishing simulations year-round, and a click triggers a short lesson on the spot, with the result reported to the client. Our post on employee cybersecurity training explains why that format works. Behind the people, every client has a 24/7 security operations center watching for threats and able to isolate a compromised device, as part of our cybersecurity services, so a file that does get opened is far more likely to be caught early. And if your team is adopting AI tools as fast as attackers are, our AI services can help you do it safely.

A single “skills test” run on a work laptop can undo a lot of good security. Book a 15-minute call and we’ll help you prepare your staff for these approaches.

Related reading: What is shadow AI? The risks small businesses need to know, AI acceptable use policy and governance: A practical guide for small businesses and AI tools for small business: Automate daily tasks without a huge budget.

Frequently asked questions

How can you tell if a LinkedIn profile is fake?

Check the photo for AI artifacts such as mismatched earrings or warped glasses, read the work history for vague titles and no real activity, and compare the account’s age with the size of its network. Click the verification badge to see whether identity or workplace was verified. A pitch right after connecting, or a request to move to WhatsApp, is often the clearer sign.

Does LinkedIn have fake profiles?

Yes. LinkedIn’s transparency report says 99.7% of the fake accounts it stopped from July to December 2025 were caught before any member reported them. The ones that get through tend to be the most convincing, often with AI-generated photos and clean, AI-written messages.