'Cesspool of fraud': Flexport CEO calls out LinkedIn after spotting fake profiles claiming to work for his firm
Flexport CEO has criticised LinkedIn for allowing fake employee profiles to claim association with the company, prompting a response from the platform.
Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen has publicly called out LinkedIn for allowing fake employee profiles to associate themselves with his company, alleging that the platform has become “a cesspool of fraud”.
Posting a screenshot of multiple LinkedIn profiles claiming to work at Flexport, Petersen wrote on X, “Only two of these people work at Flexport. Is there no verification at all @LinkedIn? You charge us too much money to then also be a cesspool of fraud against our brand.”
The post quickly sparked a discussion about how easily individuals can claim employment at major companies on LinkedIn without undergoing any verification.
In response, LinkedIn issued a clarification noting that tools already exist on the platform to verify workplace credentials.
“LinkedIn offers tools to help ensure accurate employment information. Members can verify their employment by confirming their work email, which adds a verification badge to their profile for added transparency. Additionally, super admins of LinkedIn Pages can report profiles with inaccurate employment or education associations with their organization, and LinkedIn will review and take corrective action if necessary,” the platform wrote in the comments section.
(Also Read: Flexport CEO says India has more ‘useless paperwork’ than all other countries combined)
Social media reactions
However, several users pointed out that fake profiles are increasingly being used for networking scams and recruitment fraud.
“That’s super frustrating and I see it all the time. I hear all the time about people getting reached out to by supposed employees of a company claiming to be hiring,” one user wrote.
“Very annoying, we had a bunch of imposters in the past - there is literally nothing you can do. Admin employee verification should not be hard,” shared another.
“We have the same thing happening at Hospitable. Dozens of fake accounts and LI doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it,” commented a third user.
One user said, “Crazy tactic people are doing lately is creating AI profiles at their competitors companies and posting BS after following a bunch of people. Crazy that LinkedIn doesn’t verify anything.”
“I’m convinced this problem is huge. When hiring for a role, I’d get LinkedIn applications from so many international applicants with similar company work backgrounds. It was always the same 4-5 companies and they all had 10,00+ employees. Too big for that actual company 2 notice,” said an X user.
