Why does having a LinkedIn profile mean you're legit?

[CopyCatApp]

This has puzzled me for years, in the crypto community having a LinkedIn profile seem to be the communities way of saying "Yep you're a legit person".

A couple years ago someone told me I didn't have a LinkedIn account so there was no way of proving I wasn't a scammer hiding behind a false identity. So I created a LinkedIn account and of course once you've got one you need connections. I connected with people I knew in real life and then the next day I saw some connection requests from people I didn't know. I accepted them just to see if there could a benefit for me.

It then hit me! If I get over 500 connections on LinkedIn (LinkedIn only shows 500+ and not the actual number of connections) it would some how prove to the community that I was "legit". So 24 hours later I got over 1,200 connections and yep I am now an honest legit person to their eyes. A friend of mine said to me "Wow, how'd you get so many connections so fast? You profile looks professional".

If that's all it took for me to show that I'm a real person imagine how many fake accounts there are out there.

The point I'm trying to make is I don't think LinkedIn (or others alike) should be used as a way of proving that someone is who they say they are.

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

[finaleshot2016]

It's easy to create LinkedIn or any site that are existing and we all know that we shouldn't trust people based on this kind of platforms especially on the SocMed platforms.

Okay, if they have many followers or have a lot of activities on that platform, you can still build their credibility on LinkedIn. Even known personalities in social media have the ability to fool or scam people with their online reputation.

Anyways, IMO you're in the wrong discussion board.

[avikz]

Having a LinkedIn profile certainly doesn't mean that you're legit. People who think that way, are more prone to getting scammed!  If you look back at 2017 when the ICO market was booming, the ICO companies used to create LinkedIn profiles of their team members and used to promote their ICOs through those legitimate-looking profiles. As a result, they had managed to scam millions.

So I don't really know if having a LinkedIn profile has a mind-changing effect. But those who believes in it, are just fools!

[CopyCatApp]

I agree I'm just confused is to why so many people out there use it as their "check list" to see if something is legit. I guess that's part of the reason to why so many get scammed.

[mk4]

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

You just simply don't trust random people online. I personally would probably never collaborate or invest in someone's project unless I haven't physically met the person, unless that person is actually decently known online and actually has a good reputation.

Also, LinkedIn is pretty much like any other social media site in terms of creating an account. Hence, also easily faked. Don't know why people think LinkeIn is such a big deal. If anything, I'd probably take GitHub contributions and stars a lot more seriously than LinkedIn connections.

[d.kevin29]

I never came across a person who would doubt my identity due to me not having a LinkedIn profile. Social media proves nothing unless you're a verified account (Twitter verified accounts, for example) in my opinion. I've never used LinkedIn and will probably never need it. But if I'm correct, LinkedIn is very popular in the USA and I think it is in England too. I'm from Europe.

What I find scary is that by sharing your real LinkedIn, you're sharing your real history and who you're linked with. That should be my business. Mine and only mine.

In the cryptocurrency side of social media, I'd honestly start having doubts myself if someone would say my legitimacy lays on the existence of my LinkedIn profile. I'm always skeptic when it comes to sharing private information. As far as I know, LinkedIn shows a lot of personal details I wouldn't give on here.

But then, we have different scenarios. In the crypto side, in case of a direct collaboration I would probably have nothing against proving my existence and identity with the condition and agreement of never sharing it with anybody else. If I wanted to INVEST in something though, that's a different story and I wouldn't share my personal details.

There's this company called Greyp, a smaller company linked to Rimac (the guy who created the fastest EV in the world), creating electric bikes. There's an opportunity of buying stocks through ETH on NeuFund, but it requires identity verification. Although I REALLY wanted to buy their stocks, I said no just because they wanted me to verify my identity.

[ChrisPop]

For me to see that you're a legit person not even meeting you face-to-face wouldn't count too much. I need lawyers and signed contracts, guarantees from the bank. You know the saying "trust, but verify".
The scammers are coming with a multitude of new perspectives to con people. For an "established" scammer setting up a fake profile that looks like real is like a walk in the park. As we transcend into a highly technologized era we need to become aware about the risks we face at every online action we make. All I can recommend is to be safe out there and trust no one!

[target]

Its not going to make you legit but its going to narrow the search about you. If you put information in your account like you worked in ABC company for a period of time,  people will find that information and if there is no information about the legitimacy of you working for this ABC company anywhere on the internet, you could be lying.  

[NeuroticFish]

This has puzzled me for years, in the crypto community having a LinkedIn profile seem to be the communities way of saying "Yep you're a legit person".

It certainly doesn't make you 100% legit. But I had quite similar dilemma at some point in the past when 21.co allowed people withdraw only if they link their LinkedIn profile.
Which was odd to me because although I am real and legit, I managed to live until now without LinkedIn.

So as said, LinkedIn can most probably be also faked, but also probably most won't do that since they don't see any reason to do that. Except the scammers...

[Baby Dragon]

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

You just simply don't trust random people online. I personally would probably never collaborate or invest in someone's project unless I haven't physically met the person, unless that person is actually decently known online and actually has a good reputation.

Also, LinkedIn is pretty much like any other social media site in terms of creating an account. Hence, also easily faked. Don't know why people think LinkeIn is such a big deal. If anything, I'd probably take GitHub contributions and stars a lot more seriously than LinkedIn connections.

Indeed, because you don't know their real intentions which means you can't literally assure that they are trustworthy. You don't know people's perception particularly when it comes to money that's why you can just believe their words and promises since there is a huge possibility that they are just taking advantage of that opportunity to deceive you to get the benefits they wanted. You can do some exploration to determine if it's worth it and profitable, you have to consider a lot of things before making decision on your investment. You have to analyze every situation to avoid falling into someone's trick, it usually happens these days where newbies tend to trust someone with their money without even thinking the possible outcomes of their decision that's why we have to be cautious.

[rosezionjohn]

I have not seen anyone in crypto claim that having a LinkedIn profile means that you are legit. Checking the profiles of the team members is just one of the many steps done when verifying the legitimacy of a certain project. If a team doesn't have LinkedIn, that can be seen as a sign that they are not being transparent. Take a look at the Scam Accusation board and you will find many projects busted for having fake teams.

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

It's different for every individual. Checking if the information provided in the profile is true is probably the first step.

[finaleshot2016]

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

It's different for every individual. Checking if the information provided in the profile is true is probably the first step.

Not just any single information, it must be accurate and legit. Sometimes, they're just using other pictures, information and people to fake their projects. It's the hardest part of trusting a project, the first step 'cause you need to check all of the social media accounts to count it as a proof or assurance for participating in that project. You can also check the contact details to verify the legitimacy of their project. There are many ways but still, it will not give you 100% assurance that they're legit.

[asus09]

Many scammer in ICO and IEO project use fake ID with linkedin account and many people look trust with their ICO or IEO project, I think is not time for trusting with only their linkedin accout side, we must checking data where does he live and depend with the reality and what update news from his linekdin fake account.

[bittraffic]

Of course you can create fake accounts put some data there but its easy to spot fake accounts.

Its easy to lie with linkedin since they social media site doesn't even verify the information of their users. You having a linkedin account doesn't become legit in any way but it helps people learn about you to which they can judge your account whether you lied or not. If you have a photo in linkedin, then it can also be searched via google images to see who you really are. Every information you put in your linkedin account is going to be thoroughly searched and will be verify.

[Nadziratel]

This has puzzled me for years, in the crypto community having a LinkedIn profile seem to be the communities way of saying "Yep you're a legit person".

As a matter of fact, I have seen that a lot of SCAM accusations has been made due to fake information on LinkedIn. So we can not say that if anyone has a LinkedIn profile, it is a legit. Forum members don't allow that.

[kryptqnick]

Having a LinkedIn profile certainly doesn't mean that you're legit. People who think that way, are more prone to getting scammed!  If you look back at 2017 when the ICO market was booming, the ICO companies used to create LinkedIn profiles of their team members and used to promote their ICOs through those legitimate-looking profiles. As a result, they had managed to scam millions.

So I don't really know if having a LinkedIn profile has a mind-changing effect. But those who believes in it, are just fools!

I also wanted to recall how it used to be with ICOs. There was a brief period of my life when I worked for an ICO. It was an honest team whose aim was to attract users to their platform but not to scam them. Anyway, that's when I needed a LinkedIn account and saw that it's a very important platform for business/economics-related stuff, including crypto projects. I was not nearly as successful as the op, but the reason behind this 'trustworthiness' thing, I think, is that ICOs used to make profiles on various ICO ranking websites, and pretty much always (I'm telling you this from personal experience) having a LinkedIn account for a team member gives you automatic score bonuses. All in all, of course, an account does not mean anything.

[stompix]

This has puzzled me for years, in the crypto community having a LinkedIn profile seem to be the communities way of saying "Yep you're a legit person".

There are a lot more puzzling facts in the crypto communities than this.
It's not just LinkedIn but if you have a facebook account with some pictures you're also seen as a legit team member.

I've always warned people, it's not a matter of being known or having a social profile or even a company, just because behind the project it's a 5-year-old company a director who does youtube interviews and so on it doesn't mean $#%$.
Look at bitclub, bitconnect, butterflylabs, oncecoin, ohhh..I'm not going to list them all as I'll miss Mother's day with them...
Now to the second part
 

What do you just think and how do you guys verify someone is legit, say if you want to collaborate/invest in their project?

First, you need to look at the project from the other side of the fence.
It's not about how great it is on paper, but, do people really need it?
Do you need a special coin to start an uber clone, a renewable energy company, a travel company?
If all the company promises can be done just as easy without the token it means simply the ICO is a cash-grabbing scheme.

Once you're past this, ..oh you're out of ICO projects to invest in.

[Naida_BR]

It is legit to have a LinkedIn profile because there are not so many scammer in this social media platform compared to other platforms.
This is the reason why it is so trusted and apart from that connections do not occur very easily.

[albon]

It is legit to have a LinkedIn profile because there are not so many scammer in this social media platform compared to other platforms.
This is the reason why it is so trusted and apart from that connections do not occur very easily.

Any scammer in the social media sites and even linkedin can easily create an account and put any picture and connect with many accounts that he knows and that he does not know and gets a lot of connections in a few days, It does not prove that he is legit. The members of any project team use linkedin platform because it is a marketing platform for any project, and it is also through this platform that you can put in your account all your job data, the skills that you have and the languages that you know, But it is not a measure of a person’s legitimacy and credibility.

[boyptc]

Luckily in my country LinkedIn isn't the basis of authencitiy. Employers want you personally to appear when you apply walked in or online. What I mean to say is that, there's no taboo for people that doesn't have linkedIn accounts and use it to be preferred as a legit person.

And with that experience you've got, this only tells that someone who wants to use LinkedIn with their evil deeds can easily make connections as many as they want. Not that I'm telling you are fake but if you can do it easily, they can do it too.