LINKEDIN is introducing additional trust and verification features designed to make fabricated professional identities, false employment histories and company impersonation more difficult. The changes include allowing verified colleagues and classmates to confirm that they worked or studied with someone during a stated period, although this confirms only an affiliation and is not a recommendation.
Admins of verified company Pages will be able to remove people falsely claiming to work for the organisation from its associated people and search results, though the individual’s profile and claim will remain. LinkedIn is also testing a requirement for users associating themselves with a company Page to verify their workplace, potentially through a work email address.
The company is extending partnerships that allow LinkedIn-verified identities to be displayed on other services, with Truecaller and PeerSpot joining Adobe and UserTesting. LinkedIn says its existing tools have verified 115 million members and more than 700,000 companies. The measures respond to the use of generative AI to create convincing headshots, biographies, résumés, messages and recommendations, but the article provides no evidence of confirmed exploitation of these new features.
The checks are signals rather than proof that a job or employer is genuine. Scammers can create polished pages for invented start-ups, use fake recruiters or listings, and potentially exploit verification through stolen accounts or fraudulent networks.
Job seekers should independently check an employer’s website and contact details, and be cautious about unsolicited approaches, pressure to move conversations off LinkedIn, requests for software or identity documents, and offers made without a credible interview process.