Can't decide: scam, joke, or sadly serious

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SaltyNZ

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#173262 17-May-2015 13:02

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a steady stream of LinkedIn invites from utter strangers in fields that you would have to work hard to find less overlap with telecommunications than. But then I got this one. Apparently, the Chairwoman of the Hellenic Bank of Greece wants to connect with me on LinkedIn. The Chairwoman of the Hellenic Bank, who graduated from the University of Bristol with a Bachelor of Science in 1995.

I can't decide whether this is a scam (and if so, what's their angle?), a joke (and if so, why is it funny?), or serious (and if so, is she the Einstein of Finance, or the reason that Greece is teetering on the edge of default?).

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Smithy100

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#1306603 17-May-2015 13:15

I had a similar invitation from a board member of HSBC... her details checked out too - but no, I didn't accept.

khull

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#1306610 17-May-2015 13:33

Some Thai prime minister wanted to see my details - denied.

kiwitrc

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#1306632 17-May-2015 14:10

khull: Some Thai prime minister wanted to see my details - denied.

You will never know unless you give it a thai.

freitasm

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#1306648 17-May-2015 14:48

These are scams. There's a wave of "financial" professionals with two or three one line past job experiences that will try and get in your connections then try and get you to help getting money out of somewhere.

First signals are those one liners. Then an obvious disconnection from your position and theirs. Most strange is that sometimes these scammers even have connections in common with myself, leading me to wonder how perfectly intelligent business people can fall for these.

Rikkitic

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#1306707 17-May-2015 17:27

In my experience LinkedIn itself is a scam, or at the very least, spam. They acquire members by invading computers, stealing address books, using deceptive language to fool ordinary users into clicking them onward, and spewing out so-called 'invitations' to anyone and everyone they can find. They have been investigated for this behaviour in the past. I don't understand how they still manage to maintain a veneer of respectability. I can't count the number times they have tried it on with me over the years because unknowing friends of mine clicked on the wrong link. They may manage to remain just within the letter of the law, but they have no regard whatsoever for the spirit of it. LinkedIn is worse than Facebook when it comes to assaults on personal privacy. Of course that is 'just' my opinion.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

SaltyNZ

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#1306769 17-May-2015 19:37

freitasm: These are scams. There's a wave of "financial" professionals with two or three one line past job experiences that will try and get in your connections then try and get you to help getting money out of somewhere.

First signals are those one liners. Then an obvious disconnection from your position and theirs. Most strange is that sometimes these scammers even have connections in common with myself, leading me to wonder how perfectly intelligent business people can fall for these.

Yes, this one has one in common with me. I'll just assume he clicked Accept without reading closely.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.