False LinkedIn connection requests

[Excel Expert]

A few times a week I get emails from LinkedIn saying the X would like to add me to their professional network.

I go to LinkedIn website directly (I never click on links in emails) and there is never any sign of these connection requests. BTW - X Is a real person that I know of and is in the same geographical area, but our paths have never crossed.

Also in the email is a list of people I may know. Again all genuine real people I have heard of. For some reason I'm sometimes in that list as well.

This is one of two things. 1. LinkedIn is so desperate to get people to connect on its platform it is playing match maker without either parties knowledge 2. Spammers are somehow using LinkedIn to make feasible connections between people so their email links will get clicked on.

Does anyone know for sure which it is and if it is LinkedIn, how do I get them stopped

 

[MikeJ]

I think what's happened is someone has uploaded their address book and invited all their contacts to connect. However, because there's no link between their address book and your profile, it's not appearing on your Linkedin profile. You'd get the request even if you didn't have a Linkedin profile.

We get requests to our sales@.... address by the same method. I don't think there's anything you can do though, other than ask Linkedin to stop emailing you all together. They do have a blacklist option for email addresses.

 

[Simon.P]

I think what's happened is someone has uploaded their address book and invited all their contacts to connect. However, because there's no link between their address book and your profile, it's not appearing on your Linkedin profile. You'd get the request even if you didn't have a Linkedin profile.

This is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago. I got a request from an old acquaintance who does use it, but i don't.
About a week later, another request turned up!

 

[Raw Rob]

It's probably as Mike says above, they are sending the request to a different email address of yours (do you have some email addresses forwarded to your main address?), and as your LinkedIn profile is using a different email address the requests won't show.

 

[Moneyman]

I just turn off the notification as I get loads otherwise. It can get very tedious getting constant reminders from some boring git you gave a card to in a meeting.

 

[Bill1954]

I was getting these last year. When I clicked the links I got a virus warning from my AV
Now they all go to trash

 

[Excel Expert]

I like the theory but what about the list of people I might be interested in connecting to. Again this is full of people I know but dont have a LinkedIn connection with. How does it build that list if it is not associated to my account in some way?

 

[StartUpC]

LinkedIn tries to "steal" your stored e-mail addresses and send the invitations out automatically. It is needed to click on an OK or similar somewhere - or leave a box unticked - but LinkedIn does not give a HUGE pop-up message box containing that "I'll download all your mail address book and I'll send invitations! Do you really want this?"
Even professionals fall into this kind of trap...

 

[David Griffiths]

Is the list based on people who have a mutual contact with you? I.e. if you know Fred and somebody else knows Fred, Linked In will think that you might want to know each other.

 

[marklew]

Is the list based on people who have a mutual contact with you? I.e. if you know Fred and somebody else knows Fred, Linked In will think that you might want to know each other.

Also other people in a company you have connections in or have worked for previously, and people with similar jobs in similar sectors. They are usually pretty accurate to be fair. I have about 1000 connections, have met and know personally about 500, have done business with about 750 and the last 250 where speculative that are either useful to have if required in the future or had something of interest that didn't materialise.

Think its a good tool, especially for those just starting off with LinkedIn to build up their network with the people they know.

 

[Psl]

I like the theory but what about the list of people I might be interested in connecting to. Again this is full of people I know but dont have a LinkedIn connection with. How does it build that list if it is not associated to my account in some way?

The lists of potential connections presented to you on Linkedin will also depend on what groups you a) a member of and b) of those groups, which ones you are active in.

 

[lynxus]

There are 3 kinds of people I connect with.

1) Direct friends / Colleagues.
2) Recruiters... ( Always handy to have yeah? )
3) Other business owners.

Anyone else tends to get binned. They almost always must be UK based people too.

 

[S Isaac]

I get requests from people on my personal email account who don't have by business email address. As all my linked in is on my business account I get a similar issue as you log in with one account but the requests are being made via another.

 

[Excel Expert]

The lists of potential connections presented to you on Linkedin will also depend on what groups you a) a member of and b) of those groups, which ones you are active in.

That makes me think that it is totally down to LinkedIn sending out false connection invites based on the data it holds rather than that person blindly sending contact requests to their address book

 

[Psl]

That makes me think that it is totally down to LinkedIn sending out false connection invites based on the data it holds rather than that person blindly sending contact requests to their address book

I have never linked my email contacts to any social media platform for the very reasons you state. As such I have never received a 'blind' connection request via email from Linked directly.

The suggested connections info I get from LinkedIn, based on the groups I am in and my activity, I only get when I am logged into my LinkedIn account.