LinkedIn Catfish Check
Met someone claiming to be on LinkedIn? Here's how LinkedIn accounts actually work, plus ways to help verify who you're really talking to before you trust them.
LinkedIn profiles are built around a real name and are largely public by default, including the photo and job history.
Usernames/handles: Vanity URL, e.g. linkedin.com/in/janedoe
LinkedIn requires an email address during signup. Accounts are sometimes created with disposable or single-use addresses, so a long-established, verifiable email is a mildly reassuring signal on its own.
A public LinkedIn profile can generally be viewed directly without creating an account or logging in, which makes it possible to check a specific profile yourself once you have a handle or link.
Profile photos on LinkedIn are visible publicly by default, which is what makes a reverse photo search a genuinely useful way to cross-check someone's presence there.