Does LinkedIn have a phony problem?

The Future. Lying on LinkedIn is becoming a massive headache for companies, with users lying about everything from their employment to education in order to attract recruiters. Since rectifying a wrong hire can cost a company a lot of money, companies may need to find a way to automate the process of checking credentials, or LinkedIn itself may feel the pressure to roll out a public-facing verification system for users — the platform’s version of Twitter’s blue check.

Professional Pinocchio
Not everyone on LinkedIn is who they say they are, writes Chris Harper, CEO of verification-startup ZippedScript, for Fast Company.

• A recent survey found that 34% of LinkedIn’s 850 million users contain “inaccurate or misleading information,” including false employment and education history, degrees earned, and certifications they’ve received.
• Top companies are the biggest targets for fraud. For example, crypto exchange Binance found that only 50 out of 7,000 users who claimed to be employed by the company actually were.

Why would people risk posting fake information knowing that it could come back to cost them their job and reputation? The money, prestige, and influence (yes, the LinkedInfluencers need cool credentials), of course.

Harper explains that “a person with a master’s degree in biology can demand twice the salary of someone entering the workforce with a bachelor’s degree.” Considering the embarrassment of spending so much money on someone who hasn’t earned the credentials, no wonder 70% of companies now try to verify employment and education history before making an offer.