LinkedIn Scams and How to Protect Yourself in 2025: Hard Lessons from Europe

Fighting Back: Pig Butchering & Rising Scams on LinkedIn - My Insights as a Speaker

While I’ve been consistently blogging in Hungarian over the years—sharing my insights on LinkedIn strategies, personal branding, and digital trust—this is my first post in English in quite some time.

During this period, I’ve observed a dramatic escalation in LinkedIn scams targeting professionals worldwide. From sophisticated pig butchering schemes to elaborate phishing attacks, the risks are no longer reserved for the careless—they can reach any of us.

My recent work has brought me in close contact with these issues, collecting real-world examples and lessons from both victims and experts across Europe. The biggest lesson: vigilance and knowledge are your best defenses.

In this post, I’m sharing the most important signs of LinkedIn scams in 2025, practical ways to protect your identity, and my perspective as a European specialist and keynote speaker in this field.  I’ll also be posting regular updates like this in English — so if you want key learnings and speaking event info in your inbox, stay tuned here (the Hungarian Substack newsletter is not translated, but you’ll find fresh English content on this blog from now on).

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Defending Against LinkedIn Scams – The Southeast Asian "Businesswoman" Approach

Have you ever received messages on LinkedIn from "Southeast Asian businesswomen"* offering lucrative partnerships? These scams are run by well-organized international networks.

Their playbook typically includes:

• Algorithm excuse – “LinkedIn’s algorithm suggested your profile…”
• Business proposal, followed by a suggestion for a personal meeting
• Moving the conversation to WhatsApp – this is the biggest red flag!

The core of the "pig butchering" scam:

• Long-term trust building, with the final goal: investment (often crypto) fraud
• LinkedIn is ideal terrain: professional setting, detailed career info, business context

How to protect yourself:

• Report and block suspicious profiles!
• Never share your WhatsApp number with strangers!
• Immediately delete the conversation, but keep the email notification!

This is a global phenomenon—with American, European, and Asian examples. Authentic education on this topic is highly valuable for English-speaking readers!

* The "Southeast Asian Businesswoman" scam isn't necessarily run from Southeast Asia; those fraudsters could actually be operating out of other parts of the world. However, the model was a huge hit, so the new scammers are just copying that successful scam.

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​I’m available for keynotes and workshops across Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, including the countries of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo), Albania, Romania, Moldova, Cyprus, Turkey, and Israel.