LinkedIn adds tools to fight fake profiles and resume fraud

LinkedIn on Wednesday announced a new set of tools aimed at combating fake accounts and identities on its platform, as AI has made it significantly easier for people to fabricate credentials and engage in online manipulation and scams. The company says the changes will let members vouch for each other’s experience and give businesses new controls over who can associate with their brand.

“The backdrop for all this is that faking credibility has never been cheaper or easier than it is today; and conversely, showcasing credibility has never mattered more,” LinkedIn VP of Product Oscar Rodriguez told TechCrunch. To date, the company’s existing verification tools have been used to verify 115 million users and more than 700,000 companies on the platform.

The new vouching feature lets members vouch for colleagues and classmates, past or present — distinct from an endorsement, it confirms that someone worked or studied with a person during a given time, not whether the experience was positive. Built-in protections require that the person vouching already have a verified profile, have been connected to the person for at least a year, and use two-factor authentication on their account to reduce the risk of a compromised account performing vouches on someone’s behalf.

A separate feature, previously piloted with recruiters and executives, will let companies remove accounts that falsely claim employment from appearing on their page and in page-related search results. Page admins can visit an account making a false employment claim and manually remove it; LinkedIn is also testing a setting that would require any new account trying to associate with a page to complete workplace verification, such as through a work email address. Removing a profile from a company page won’t change the member’s own LinkedIn profile, but it will drop the clickable link to that company page and the “verified” mark on that work experience. Rodriguez said the feature focuses on full-time employees, not contractors or field workers, who will have other ways to claim their association with an employer.

LinkedIn is also expanding its verification partnerships beyond its own platform: Truecaller and PeerSpot will join existing partners Adobe and UserTesting, letting members show their verified LinkedIn identity elsewhere — for instance, a Truecaller caller ID showing a verified LinkedIn identity to whoever they’re calling. Rodriguez said verified profiles see real benefits, receiving on average 50% more post views and 90% more impressions than non-verified profiles.

Why it matters

As AI lowers the cost of faking a professional identity, verification tools like these could become a baseline expectation on any platform where a resume or work history carries real career or business consequences.