SCAM!
FRAUD!
CHEAT!
I wonder what sort of emotion these evoke in your gut.
If you’re anything like me, you might have felt your insides shudder a little as you read those words.
The problem is that these con jobs don’t come with the word “scam” plastered all over them. In fact, more often than not, they are engineered in a way to inspire confidence and trust, which is precisely where the danger lies. And as far as LinkedIn serves as a convenient career advancing platform, I learned a few short weeks ago that even LinkedIn is not immune from carrying the occasional scammer to your virtual doorstep.
Thankfully, LinkedIn helped me sort it out almost immediately, but warning bells should be rung all the same.
This was how it all transpired.
A seemingly well connected lady sent me a message inviting me to speak at an international conference related to my professional qualifications. Oh, what a dream come true to be offered such an enticing opportunity. She needed my commitment almost immediately as the event date was barely a month away.
Despite the ‘dream come true’ etc, I had some prearranged commitments and so I replied that I would ‘think about it’, then proceeded to rifle through my schedule, swap dates and change plans to make this dream a reality. The well connected lady contacted me several times that morning, sending me links to the conference website, a portal to submit my topic and register for the event. All was right with the world.
Then in the list of speakers, I stumbled upon two familiar names - my former postgraduate trainer, Dr Chandran Rajagopal and a former colleague, Dr Kong Chee Kwan , a plastic surgeon in University Malaya Hospital. This turned out to be a blessing.
I contacted Dr Kong (in truth to get a heads up on what was expected of me should I speak at the conference), and my eyes widened in surprise at him saying that, yes, he will be speaking at an event on the same day, but, no, he had never heard of this particular conference. He generously shared the details of the event he would be speaking at - brochures and websites nearly identical to the ones the well connected lady (whom I now suspected to be a scammer) had sent me.
The only differences were the name of the conference, the email address to contact for information, and the ridiculously high registration fees for participants. What a rude shock, and a blow to my ego. I’d not actually been offered a role as a speaker at a prestigious event, and what’s more, this lady was ripping off innocents who were looking to gain knowledge at a legitimate conference.
After thoroughly looking through both websites, I informed the LinkedIn support team and the organiser of the genuine conference.
To my knowledge, the account of the well connected lady has since been deleted.
I’ve summarised the lessons I learned through this experience - and on second thought, they can be applied to other situations on social media and in life in general :
Lesson 1: Do not let the smokescreen of (500+) connections put you off your guard
Lesson 2: When something sounds like a dream come true, that’s what it probably is - a dream
Lesson 3: Big decisions should not be made rashly, especially under pressure from a benefiting
party
Lesson 4: Do your homework before registering for anything presented to you by someone you do
not know personally
Lesson 5: Contact the organiser directly to verify details prior to making any bookings or payments
The warning bells are rung. He who has ears let him hear.
Comments