Lately, I’ve been seeing a huge volume of Chinese LinkedIn profiles trying to connect with me. It’s quite obvious that these are fraudulent accounts, though they all have seemingly “real” profile information filled out. It’s been a nuisance at best… until earlier this month.
It’s Not a Matter of If… But When…
Earlier this month, I’d received a “New device registration for Remember me” e-mail from LinkedIn. But those e-mails get funneled to a separate folder that is rarely checked so I was totally oblivious to it.
A few days later, when I tried logging into LinkedIn, I got a strange “your account has been temporarily restricted” message and was asked to submit photos of physical ID. When I first encountered this, I thought I was getting phished! Switched browsers, VPNs, etc. and searched on the ‘net, and winds up that that part seemed legit. But I didn’t think about WHY it was happening (nor did the website actually say why), so I figured it was a routine thing and said screw it, I’ll deal with it later.
A few more days pass by and I finally start trying to deal with it. I submit my Driver’s License, and 30 seconds thereafter, I get an automated e-mail saying that my ID was rejected. Okay, now I’m getting pissed, because I’m effectively locked out of LinkedIn entirely.
While many out there wouldn’t shed any tears to never ever use LinkedIn again, I find that it has its uses, especially in my role and general community activity. So being locked out was definitely a bad thing.
Okay fine, so I try the ID verification again with my passport. But here’s where things get really obnoxious – I cannot submit ID again! The website returns an error saying that I’ve already submitted “recently” and to “wait before trying again.” Repeat this over 3 days and now I’m quite irate.
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper on Twitter and Reddit, I find others who have been hacked and hijacked by those lovely Chinese profiles. Even worse, I come to learn that LinkedIn Support is apparently swamped with a 2-3 WEEK response time… if you’re lucky!
So how does one open a Support Case with LinkedIn? You have to log in. But… I… CAN’T!!!
Reddit to the Rescue
I’d come close to resigning myself to waiting several weeks to MAYBE get my LinkedIn account back, when I stumble upon a peculiar Reddit thread. The poster shared that they were able to get their LinkedIn account resolution fast-tracked by… filing a complaint with the BBB.
Whuuut? Seriously?
I thought this was a fake post, but others chimed in claiming the same. I perused a few of the profiles & comment history of some of the individuals who claimed success, and they seemed like legit humans. Alright fine, what do I have to lose? So I filed a BBB complaint against LinkedIn with details and screenshots.
And I actually got a response within a few hours from LinkedIn!
Unfortunately it was a trash response, saying to check my Support Case correspondence. I “rejected the resolution” on the BBB, pointing out that the one cannot review a Support Case without logging in, and I couldn’t log in! A few hours later, I receive an automated Password Reset e-mail from LinkedIn!
Got My Account Back! But…
So yay, I got my account back! And upon logging in, the FIRST thing I did was enable MFA. I had thought I did so before, but obviously not.
And to my dismay and irritation, my entire profile had also been wiped. I was now “Cheryl,” a Chinese wedding dress maker out of Brooklyn, NY. Uhm… yeah, okay then.
So I’ve cleaned house and gotten profile back up and running. That was a few days of stressful irritation that I could have done without.
Epilogue
… but I think the hacker may be getting a bit of a last laugh. For whatever reason, all of my ads on LinkedIn are now in Chinese.
Every Byte Counts 