In July and August 2026 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recorded 138 LinkedIn‑related scam reports, with victims losing up to $254,449. The complaints ranged from fake job ads to recruiters demanding upfront fees.

A LinkedIn Job Search Safety Pulse report found that 61 % of Australians had seen a job ad they suspected was fraudulent, 27 % said they almost fell for one, and 16 % admitted they had been scammed – the figure rises to 25 % among Gen Z jobseekers.

Tech recruiter Trevor Churchley explained that fraudsters frequently clone authentic LinkedIn profiles and then target members who display the #opentowork banner. These duplicated accounts look like real employees, making the deception harder to spot.

Churchley warned that fake recruiters often work from odd locations, have no followers, and use generic email domains like @gmail.com, @outlook.com or @hotmail.com.

A LinkedIn spokesperson said more than 115 million members are now verified, about 75 verifications occur each minute, and over 81 % of job views are for verified listings, providing a clear trust signal for users.

For anyone hunting work online, the surge in cloned profiles means vigilance is essential: check a recruiter’s connection count, confirm the email domain, and prefer jobs that carry LinkedIn’s verification badge. Using these checks can dramatically reduce the risk of falling victim to a scam.