someone is impersonating my company on LinkedIn

Someone Is Impersonating My Company

Someone is impersonating my company on LinkedIn. That search query leads here, which means you have already found a fake profile, or a candidate has warned you, or your inbox is filling with people asking if "Sarah from HR" is real.

You are not alone in this. We flag impersonators daily. The pattern is consistent enough that we can describe what happens, what works, and what wastes your time.

What the scam looks like

A person creates a LinkedIn profile using your company name, your logo, sometimes your actual job titles. They reach out to candidates with urgent roles, conduct brief "interviews" over chat, then ask for money, documents, or both. The candidate later contacts your real careers address, confused and angry. Or they post about it online, and your brand is now attached to a scam they remember.

In the cases we verify, the fake recruiter almost always moves fast. The role is remote, the pay is above market, and the candidate is "hired" within a day or two. The ask that follows is usually an onboarding fee for equipment or training. A real recruiter is paid by the employer. If someone asks a candidate for money to start a job, that person is not recruiting on your behalf.

Why reporting to LinkedIn is not enough

You can report the profile. You should. LinkedIn removes many fakes, but the process takes days or weeks, and the scammer has already moved on to a new profile by then. We have seen the same company name attached to ten or more fake profiles in a single month. Reporting is a mop, not a faucet handle.

The deeper problem is that candidates have no fast way to check. They see a profile that looks official. They see connections in common. They see posts and endorsements. None of this proves employment, but it looks like proof, and most candidates do not know to look deeper.

What actually protects your brand

The only thing that scales is making the real list easy to find.

Publish a verified roster of your actual recruiters. Put it on a page you control. Link it from your careers site, your job postings, your email footers. When a candidate receives a message from "your" recruiter, they can check the name against the list in seconds. If the name is not there, they know to stop.

This does not require you to build software. The tool exists for this purpose. The point is the behavior: candidates need a source of truth that is faster than a LinkedIn report and more authoritative than a profile page.

What to do this week

Find the fake profiles using your name. A search for your company name plus "recruiter" on LinkedIn will surface some. Set a Google Alert for your company name plus common scam phrases. Ask your real recruiters to mention in their profiles that they are on the official roster, and link to it.

When a candidate emails you to verify someone, answer quickly. A fast "no, that person does not work here" saves that candidate and prevents the next post that names your company in a warning about scams.

The cost of waiting

Every day a fake recruiter operates in your name, more candidates are burned. Some will apply to your real roles later and remember the bad experience. Some will warn others. The damage compounds in ways that are hard to measure but easy to prevent.

You found this because someone is impersonating my company was the search that matched your situation. The fix is not more searching. It is making the truth easier to find than the fake.