LinkedIn Phishing Email Scam Alert!

This is security advisory for our readers who have LinkedIn accounts. We have been made aware of a phishing email scam that is targeting LinkedIn users. Scroll down to read more about this.

Users of the popular business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn are apparently receiving emails that seem to be from LinkedIn support. In these emails, the recipient is informed about “irregular activities” in their account, because of which a compulsory security update is required. To do so, the user is advised to download an HTML file (attached in the email).

The Real Story!
These emails are fake and are part of a pretty old phishing email scam. If you click the html file, it will redirect you to a fake website that looks like the actual LinkedIn login page. Any login information you give on this page will be transmitted directly to the attacker, who will then hijack your account.

Below is a sample of the phishing email that seems to have been sent by LinkedIn support:

LinkedIn Phishing Email Scam

What Should you do if you Receive Such Emails?
Delete these emails and report them to the right authority, in this case, LinkedIn itself.

Tips to Avoid Phishing Email Scams
To ensure that you don’t fall into such phishing traps, here are some simple measures you can take:

  1. Activate the two-step verification security feature, in this case, your LinkedIn account. This will ensure that no unauthorized user has access to your account.
  2. If you have clicked a link or html form in such emails, run an antivirus scan on your computer.
  3. Be suspicious of emails that carry a bad tone, has grammatical and spelling errors. Most phishing emails usually have these characteristics.
  4. Never click links in emails for logging into any online account.
  5. Before clicking any link in an email, hover your mouse over it. This will display the actual URL (bottom-left corner of the screen) of the site that the link is directing to.
  6. Remember that a genuine organization would never ask you to install a software update via an email.
  7. Always treat unexpected emails as suspicious. For instance, if you haven’t asked for a password reset, then you should never trust an email that claims that you have done so. Trash such emails.
  8. If you do receive an email from LinkedIn or any organization about an urgent subject like a security update or a change in password, visit the official website and verify the information first.

LinkedIn’s has an official page that has listed out helpful tips on how to identify a fraudulent or phishing email. You can read about them here.

References:
https://help.linkedin.com
https://blog.knowbe4.com

Rajiv Singha

Rajiv Singha


38 Comments

Your email address will not be published.

CAPTCHA Image

  1. IN our organisation GemPundit (www.gempundit.com) , importance of security is much more. We rely on antivirus solutions from Quickheal. It does not eat performance of PC and we can focus on our work

    Reply
  2. i want to safe net banking i am using quickheal anti virius till 2014,

    Reply
  3. Avatar rizwan khanFebruary 1, 2015 at 2:02 PM

    We really antivirus solution

    Reply
  4. Avatar NEERAJ KUMARFebruary 1, 2015 at 2:17 PM

    how am i? please tell me in details

    Reply
  5. What is meaning of “does not eat performance” I don’t know but yes Quick Heal is a wonderful antivirus solutions software. I have been using it since last two decades & more when I used to use DOS based PCs like AT & XT.

    Reply
  6. Avatar kamlesh patelFebruary 1, 2015 at 3:17 PM

    i like quickheal

    Reply
  7. Avatar Mustupha alamFebruary 1, 2015 at 5:32 PM

    product good

    Reply
  8. Avatar Dharam GulatiFebruary 1, 2015 at 6:09 PM

    I had received an email to update my Quick Heal to 16.0 I clicked on that and it has deactivated my Quick Heal. Please advise what to do. I was trying to upload again but it is asking for a Product Key which I can’t find as I had renewed my license on the net some time back. Please help.

    Reply
    • Rajiv Singha Rajiv SinghaFebruary 2, 2015 at 10:34 AM

      Hi Dharam,

      Thank you for using our products. Our Support Team can help you solve this issue:

      1. You can submit your query at https://bit.ly/Askus. The Team will get back to you with a solution.
      2. You can also contact them at 0-927-22-33-000.
      3. Alternatively, you can chat with our engineers by visiting this link >> https://bit.ly/QHSupport

      Regards,

      Reply
  9. Avatar mojibul rahman ansariFebruary 1, 2015 at 7:06 PM

    IN our organisation GemPundit, importance of security is much more. We rely on antivirus solutions from Quickheal. It does not eat performance of PC and we can focus on our work

    Reply
  10. Avatar Rajendra SwainFebruary 1, 2015 at 7:28 PM

    Thanks to LinkedIn’s has an official page that has listed out helpful tips on how to identify a fraudulent or phishing email. We can read about them there.

    Reply
  11. Avatar GIRISH SHAHFebruary 2, 2015 at 4:51 AM

    Make me secure from virous from Linked in

    Reply
  12. Avatar RISHI PRAKASHFebruary 2, 2015 at 4:59 AM

    3 YEAR HAI TO BHI RENUAL MANTA HAI START 2013 SEE HAI

    Reply
  13. Avatar rajesh tiwariFebruary 2, 2015 at 9:01 AM

    very nice quick heal

    Reply
  14. Avatar bhagwati rice mill pvt ltdFebruary 2, 2015 at 10:24 AM

    email scam alert

    Reply
  15. Quick Heal is protecting us very well

    Reply
  16. I like

    Reply
  17. how i can update offline

    Reply
  18. Avatar rajesh pithiyaFebruary 2, 2015 at 3:19 PM

    Quick Heal is very well us protecting.

    Reply
  19. Avatar Shashikant PawarFebruary 2, 2015 at 8:38 PM

    Thanks

    Reply
  20. one of the best antivirus quick heal

    Reply
  21. Avatar Soumya Ranjan NaikFebruary 2, 2015 at 9:43 PM

    I wan’t update my Quick heal anti virus

    Reply
  22. Hi am vinod am quick heal usig me gujrat see ho im like

    Reply
  23. I like quick heal

    Reply
  24. Avatar Purna Chandra PradhanFebruary 3, 2015 at 1:47 PM

    Hiii thanks

    Reply
  25. Avatar Sudarshan mandawatFebruary 4, 2015 at 8:36 AM

    I have been using this product for 5 to 7 years. It is good. Is there anyway to scan my android phone from my computer.

    Reply
    • Rahul Thadani Rahul ThadaniFebruary 5, 2015 at 10:16 AM

      Hi Sudarshan,

      With the Quick Heal Total Security product, there is a feature called PC2Mobile scan. With this feature, you can scan your phone after connecting it to the machine. Alternatively, you can also install Quick Heal Mobile Security from the Google Play store. This app is available for free and can scan your Android smartphone for malware or viruses.

      Regards.

      Reply
  26. Quick heal very good

    Reply
  27. Avatar sanjay kumar pradhanFebruary 11, 2015 at 5:12 PM

    Quick hea v.vl Good

    Reply
  28. I like it quickheal
    Giks gajjar

    Reply
  29. Hi thanks

    Reply