The Unemployed Copywriter Fighting Recruitment Scams on LinkedIn

A smiling woman named Linda Anthony wants to offer you a job. Jay Jones is convinced she is a bot trying to scam you. Jones says he first encountered her on LinkedIn late one night, shortly after midnight. The role listed on her profile was "outsourced recruiter" at a company called Confidential Jobs based in Smyrna, Georgia. Later, he found another copy of her profile under the exact same name—"Linda Anthony"—this time listed as a "contracts specialist" at the same company, but in California. Then, Jones found three more "Linda Anthonys."

All the profiles featured the exact same photo. The pages of all these "Lindas" indicated they had recently joined LinkedIn, and their profile URLs all ended with the same sequence of numbers and letters—a sign of mass creation, according to Jones.

Behind the smiling profile pictures lies a real danger: if these accounts message a large number of job seekers, they could steal their identities or hard-earned savings.

For Jones, a Chicago-area resident who calls himself "The Profiler," this is just another routine Tuesday. Every day, he spends long hours delving into this murky corner of the internet. Jones, an unemployed copywriter who is currently looking for a job himself, now devotes his time to tracking down job-seeker scams, which are proliferating everywhere. This mission has led him into the dark sides of the online job market.

Uncovering Thousands of Fake Listings

According to Jones, he has tracked nearly 60,000 fake job listings and helped get them removed from the internet—mostly on LinkedIn and some on the Teal platform. He works into the small hours of the night and has already flagged around 7,000 profiles suspected of fraud, including many that direct candidates to these positions.

Jay Jones, 39, lives in the Chicago area with his two children. A former copywriter, he currently looks for work and drives for Uber while operating as a "profiler" detecting and removing recruitment scams online. He even sells apparel featuring the slogan "I Fire Scammers."

"It's like going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole," says Jones, who works as an Uber driver during the hours he is not busy hunting scammers.

Americans are increasingly frustrated by job-search scams, and job seekers are desperate. In August, the unemployment rate for those looking for work for over six months stood at 27%—close to its highest level in over a decade, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic era.

LinkedIn's Countermeasures and AI Bots

LinkedIn states that the platform's AI-driven automated systems detect and remove nearly all fraud attempts before network users or Jones encounter them. The company reported that in the second half of 2025, it prevented the activation of nearly 90 million fake accounts and continues to roll out updates to combat potential fraud attempts. This past summer, LinkedIn also partnered with the FBI to educate job seekers.

According to Jones, bots like "Linda Anthony" use artificial intelligence to match jobs to each user's profile and expand at an accelerated pace. Scammers claim your resume does not meet requirements—but promise that if you pay them, they will help you secure a job offer. Other fake job listings look identical to real positions offered by giant companies like Hyundai Motor and Capital One.

Jones began his Sisyphus-like struggle after being laid off from his advertising job in late 2023. Shortly after starting his job search, he encountered someone impersonating a professional resume writer—similar to the "Linda Anthony" case. When asked to pay, he realized it was a scam and began investigating the phenomenon deeply. According to him, some fake recruiters ask candidates for identifying details like a driver's license or Social Security number, and then sell the information.

Even today, Jones is still looking for a job. Meanwhile, he trains cybersecurity professionals to spot scams and tries to secure paid speaking engagements. He raises funds online from people who appreciate his work and sells apparel with slogans like "I Fire Scammers."

One of his key tips for spotting scams? Carefully check profiles where the last name could also be a first name. After finding "Linda Anthony," he also tracked down "Olivia Parker" and "Jessica Bennett," both of whom presented themselves as recruiters for a company called Confidential. Fake profiles may include an AI-generated image or another common photo—such as of a real estate agent or an actor.

After Jones posted about Linda Anthony's multiple profiles, the links to them stopped working. "When you turn on the light," he said, "the roaches scatter."

Hijacked Profiles and Verified Accounts

Shortly afterward, Jones encountered another fraudulent tactic, one that exploits users' trust in verified profiles—reminiscent of the plot of the movie Weekend at Bernie's, where vacation home guests pretend their dead host is still alive.

Many users submit a government ID document to LinkedIn to verify their identity and receive a "verified" badge indicating profile reliability. However, some later forget about these accounts, which remain abandoned and gather dust on the network.

According to Jones, this is a hacker's dream. Scammers can hijack a verified account—whether it belongs to a school teacher or an engineer—and pose as recruiters for real companies. Enjoying the appearance of credibility, they distribute fake job listings to job seekers to collect their personal details.

One recently hijacked profile belonged to a dentist from Chile. This past summer, he and other users suddenly appeared as employees at Argenta Talent Acquisition, a small recruiting firm from Colorado.

Company CEO Kelly Barcus was panicked when she saw the "new employees" ostensibly assigned to her, as she is the sole employee in the business. "This is my brand, this is my reputation," she said.

She hired Jones to sever these profiles from her company page.

The task was not easy. LinkedIn accepted his reports on the hijacked profiles, but before removing their affiliation with Argenta, the platform gave the account owners a 14-day grace period to update their details or appeal the decision. According to LinkedIn, in many cases requiring users to fix their details themselves solves the problem.

Jones was furious. Two weeks is too long a period, allowing scammers to trap more candidates. "Scammers don't deserve fair treatment," he said. "It's economic terrorism."

Oscar Rodriguez, Vice President of Trust Products at LinkedIn, said scammers adapt quickly to the platform's defense efforts, and combating spam is an ongoing battle. While LinkedIn asks recruiters to verify their identity, Rodriguez noted that verification provides additional information and is not an absolute guarantee of reliability.

When users click on external links to apply for jobs, a prompt appears urging vigilance. Later this month, LinkedIn is set to launch a new feature allowing verified employers to immediately remove users associated with their companies.

David Pano, founder and CEO of Teal, said the company strives to remove job listings as soon as Jones reports them. "There are a lot of fake jobs out there, and it's a hard problem to fight," Pano concluded.

Fake Listings on Verified Pages

Another tip from Jones: Beware of jobs posted on company pages across external platforms like LinkedIn. Jones discovered that about six months ago, Hyundai Motor's LinkedIn page published around 30 jobs for data entry specialists and customer service representatives.

Screenshots obtained by The Wall Street Journal show that the ads, filled with spelling errors, appeared inside Hyundai's verified LinkedIn page. However, the links inside them led to an external website not owned by Hyundai, and candidates were asked to send their resumes to an external email address.

Jones also compares job titles to those appearing on companies' official career sites to determine if they are fake ads.

Jones's screenshots show that administrative assistant job ads at Capital One posted on LinkedIn were verified—but led to an unrelated site. On Capital One's official website, most administrative roles have slightly different titles, such as "Senior Administrative Assistant" or "Administrative Assistant Level 3."

Spokespeople for Hyundai and Capital One stated that the companies are cooperating with LinkedIn to remove fake job listings.

Jones often keeps about 50 browser tabs open simultaneously and generally crashes a few times a week.

He recently wrote online that he is worried about the world his two young children will inherit, but one thing encourages him: "When they grow up, they will hear what their dad did to make the world a better place," he concluded, "and they will know I really meant it."