When LinkedIn Networking Goes All Wrong

Have you ever received an invitation to connect on LinkedIn that was very out of the blue and perhaps seemingly a little inappropriate? I’m a fairly aggressive LinkedIn user, so I run into this sort of thing once in a while.

A Spammy Message in My LinkedIn Inbox

Today, immediately upon connecting with someone who I thought might be worth networking with on LinkedIn, I received a message in my inbox.

I was intrigued at first, but partly suspicious. How could someone have written a personal message to me that quickly?! Well, chances are it wasn’t really a personal message crafted just for me. It was a form letter that some automated program sent me.

Being fairly savvy in all things LinkedIn, I knew what to do next. To the right side of the Send a message button on all your connections’ profiles, there is a blue and white down-arrow. Upon clicking that arrow, a list of options appear. Of course, I selected “Block or report”.

Selecting this option brings up a layer that gives options to Block or Report this person.. DUH! Choosing the Block option means that I won’t be able to access their profile and they won’t be able to access mine. Fine with me! We won’t be able to mess each other on LinkedIn. Phew! And, If we’re connected, we won’t be connected any longer. What a relief! I won’t have to go find that silly disconnect button myself.

Choosing the Report option means that LinkedIn will review the profile in question and will search for inappropriate behavior or violations of their Terms of Use. I chose this option on the grounds of misrepresentation. I really don’t think that Laura Scott is a beautiful Interior Decorator from Kentucky. I think she’s actually a he and most likely lives in Nigeria or the Philippines.

Moral of the story? Unless you want your LinkedIn network full of contacts who are out to trick you and steal your money, you need to be careful with whom you network.

There is no right or wrong way to do this LinkedIn networking thing. Just make sure you don’t get duped into wasting time communicating with frauds.