I was messaged on LinkedIn by Jenniffer Martinez, purportedly from HS Hyosung USA. She wanted my email address to send information about a job opportunity.
Why?
“After reviewing your resume and relevant experience, we believe your management experience, professional background, and career stability are a strong match for Yaskawa Group’s current talent needs.”
(Only now did I notice the reference to Yaskawa Group, whatever it is.)
Eventually I told “Jenniffer” that I had contacted her employer directly.
By 11:30 she had deleted her entire conversation, which is why I took screen shots immediately.
And I never even got around to asking her for HER corporate email address.
No word from HS Hyosung USA, but it knows all about Jenniffer now (see final screen shot).
Imagine if Capitol Records employed age verification in 1963.
Some musicians reach superstardom in their early 20s, feeling tremendous pressure at a young age.
But sometimes they’re younger: when “Surfin’ U.S.A.” hit number 3 on Billboard and Cash Box, surf guitarists Carl Wilson and (soon to depart) David Marks were 16 and 14, respectively.
Of course, Capitol Records would face a bigger problem—Know Your Composer. Brian Wilson did not write the song alone.
Masha Borak of Biometric Update is writing about FaceKom again.
I discussed Borak’s previous article on FaceKom, which noted the alleged ties between FaceKom and the Hungarian government. The whole thing is a classic example of BENEFICIAL ownership, in which someone who is not the legal owner of a company may still benefit from it.
Borak returned to the theme in the current post:
“FaceKom, the identity verification company used by the Hungarian national digital identity program, has been acquired by major local IT and telecom group, 4iG Informatikai (4iG IT). The deal is now attracting attention among media outlets and political watchers due to the companies’ relationship with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán….
“Recent 4iG’s purchases, however, have been raising questions over the company’s reported links to the Hungarian government, which has been accused by critics of enriching political allies, family, and loyalists through state resources and public contracts.”
“4iG chairman and majority investor Gellért Jászai is known for his ties to Orbán and was invited as part of his entourage to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the 2024 U.S. presidential election.”
“[FaceKom’s] previous owner is Equilor Fund Management, owned by the Central European Opportunity Private Equity Fund (CEOM)….While CEOM has no direct links with Orbán, local media investigations have discovered links with companies owned by the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, István Tiborcz.”
Mere links do not necessarily indicate illegal activity, and Hungarian law may differ from laws in other countries, but FaceKom is being watched.
During this shopping season, you will be offered incredible deals if you act NOW.
But before you respond to that mysterious “secret Santa” and send that gift (or those gift cards) TODAY to receive a highly-valued gift in return…know your business.
On LinkedIn, the hashtag “#opentowork” isn’t the only magic phrase that attracts all sorts of people. I found this out Sunday morning when I reshared my September 26 “Graber Olives is in Foreclosure…But There’s a GoFundMe” post on Bredemarket’s Inland Empire LinkedIn page.
I should note this is Kelsey Graber’s GoFundMe. This is not my GoFundMe.
Anyway, I reshared the post on LinkedIn…and got all sorts of reposts…with additional commentary. The commentary was not addressed to the GoFundMe fundraiser…but to me. (The resharers probably never read my original post; they just saw the word “GoFundMe” and jumped.) I’ve redacted the redirects to WhatsApp…a common fraud scam tactic.
The scammers’ what
Foone Berkeley:
“Hi, I came across your campaign, really impressive work. It reminded me of an independent group I’ve seen quietly helping project owners connect with private contributors who genuinely want to make a difference.
I’m not part of their team, but I’ve seen them support a few people in my circle. If you’re open to exploring new sources of backing, you can reach them directly here:
📞 WhatsApp: [REDACTED]
They usually prefer to speak one-on-one with campaign owners to understand their goals and see if there’s a good fit.
Wishing you continued success, your work truly deserves attention.”
Alex Mary:
“Hello 🌸 I just read your campaign, and it truly touched me. I know how tough fundraising can be, but there are genuine people out there who want to help. A trusted charity once helped me raise over $38,000 after I’d almost given up. If you’d like, you can message them on WhatsApp 👉 [REDACTED] they might be able to guide you too. 💙”
Olivia Williams:
“If you’re looking to grow your campaign donations fast, I truly recommend reaching out to Crowd. She’s an expert in GoFundMe promotions and helped me raise over $180,000 a few months ago! he knows exactly how to attract real donors and get results. You can contact her directly here [REDACTED]”
The scammers’ how
Let’s look at the red flags common to all three:
The person is touched by the fundraising effort, but doesn’t say anything specific about them. (And doesn’t acknowledge that this is someone else’s fundraiser, not mine.)
The person resharing is not the person who can provide help. It’s always someone else: an independent group, a trusted charity, or a woman (or man?) named Crowd.
The person wants to get you off LinkedIn as soon as possible. Private email, SMS, or an encrypted service like WhatsApp or Telegram.
The scammers’ goals
So why are these people so willing to recommend helpers who can assist desperate GoFundMe fundraisers? GoFundMe itself has addressed this:
“If someone you don’t know is reaching out to offer something that sounds too good to be true, we always recommend validating the individual before sharing any personal information. Donors and donor networks shouldn’t expect anything from you in return for their generosity.”
Two common tactics include:
Guarantee reaching your fundraising goal in exchange for a service fee or percentage of funds raised
Make a donation if you provide personal information such as email address, phone number, or banking information
There are other tactics, but the goal is the same. Instead of helping you raise money, the “helper” wants to get money from you.
Now there are legitimate companies that assist charities in their fundraising efforts…but they can be contacted via methods other than WhatsApp.
Today’s honeypot
And now that I’ve written this warning, I’m going to conduct a little experiment.
I’m going to reshare THIS post on LinkedIn.
With quotes from the first and fourth paragraphs that include several mentions of the word “GoFundMe”…plus the additional honeypot word #opentowork. (I haven’t planted an opentowork honeypot in a while. Oh, and not that they’ll notice, but the words “fraud” and “scam” also appear.
Grok.
Let’s see what moths are attracted to the new flame.
And consider what YOU are doing to fight fraud.
Bredemarket specializes in helping anti-fraud firms market their products.
(Image sources: Gemini (still), GoFundMe, Grok (video). Only the GoFundMe is real.)
As I’ve said before, you should write a proposal that resonates with the people who read it. In marketing terms, you write for the key personas in your target audience.
But what if your target audience never reads your proposal?
“A new minister in Albania charged to handle public procurement will be impervious to bribes, threats, or attempts to curry favour. That is because Diella, as she is called, is an AI-generated bot.
“Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is about to begin his fourth term, said on Thursday that Diella, which means “sun” in Albanian, will manage and award all public tenders in which the government contracts private companies for various projects.”
Imagen 4.
The intent is to stop corruption from “gangs seeking to launder their money from trafficking drugs and weapons.”
When people evaluate proposals
But how savvy is Diella?
Let me provide a proposal evaluation example that has nothing to do with corruption, but illustrates why AI must be robust.
A couple of years before I became a proposal writer, I was a Request for Proposals (RFP) writer…sort of. A Moss Adams consultant and I assembled an RFP that required respondents to answer Yes or No to a checklist of questions.
When the consultant and I received the proposals, we selected two finalists…neither of whom responded “Yes” to every question like some submissions.
We figured that the ones who said “Yes” were just trying to get the maximum points, whether they could do the work or not.
Imagen 4.
The two finalists gave some thought to the requirements and raised legitimate concerns.
Can Diella detect corruption?
Hopefully Diella is too smart to be fooled by such shenanigans. But how can she keep the gangs out of Albania’s government procurements?
Imagen 4.
Certainly on one level Diella can conduct a Know Your Business check to ensure a bidder isn’t owned by a gang leader. But as we’ve seen before in Hungary, the beneficial owner may not be the legal owner. Can Diella detect that?
Add to this the need to detect whether the entity can actually do what it says it will do. While I appreciate that the removal of humans prevents a shady procurement official from favoring an unqualified bidder, at the same time you end up relying on a bot to evaluate the bidders’ claims to competency.
Of course this could all be a gimmick, and Diella will do nothing more than give the government the aura of scientific selection, while in reality the same procurement officers will do the same things, with the same results.
I’ve written about the fake recruiters who InMail you about a great position with their company. I shut up the fakes by requesting their corporate email address at their supposed employer. But what if LinkedIn could catch them BEFORE they ever sent that InMail to me?
“LinkedIn is looking to take on scammers who falsely present themselves as recruiters or company representatives in the app, with an expansion of its company verification option, while it’s also making workplace verification required when a member adds or updates a leadership or recruiter-related role.”
From HR Dive.
Of course, the proposed Know Your Recruiter system isn’t foolproof; nothing is. Scammers can avoid the LinkedIn verification step by simply NOT choosing a leadership or recruiter-related job title.
Imagen 4.
And as much as people like me wish that people would care about verified identities…many don’t.
If “Jones Jay” from Microsoft sends jobseekers an InMail about a wonderful position,
some will blindly respond without even looking at Jones Jay’s LinkedIn profile at all,
much less checking whether his identity and employer are verified.
But at least the attempt demonstrates that LinkedIn cares more about their real users than about the scammers who pay for Premium.
Bredemarket 