Cyber criminals are utilizing phony LinkedIn profiles to map the networks of business professionals out to scrape contact info and after use these to send spear-phishing e-mails, security options company Symantec now said.

Bring new links and scammers duplicate info from actual LinkedIn profiles to pose as recruiters, it included.

“Over the past year, we’ve noticed an increasing variety of events including fraudulent LinkedIn reports targeting members of the company-oriented social networking service.

Symantec said a particular routine was followed by most of these fraudulent accounts. They charge themselves as recruiters for companies that are bogus or are allegedly employed and mostly use pictures of girls pulled from stock image websites or of actual professionals.

“We could verify it by using inverse picture search software like TinEye and Google’s Search by Picture,” it said.

Text is copied by the scammers from profiles of actual professionals and key word-things their profile for exposure in search results, the website added.

Symantec said the primary aim of these forgery accounts that were LinkedIn would be to map the networks of business professionals out.

“Using these bogus LinkedIn accounts, scammers can confirm a feeling of credibility among professionals as a way to begin additional links,” it said.

Along with planning connections, scammers may also scrape contact information including phone numbers in addition to professional and private email addresses, from their links.

This info may be utilized to send spear-phishing e-mails, it included.

“Should you have never met the man before, do not simply add them. We were not surprised to discover that these fraudulent LinkedIn reports received sanctions from actual users,” it said.