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Welcome to Money As If, the cherry on top of your free birthday sundae from Carvel, Culver's, or Friendly's.

Today's toppings:

• Anatomy of a LinkedIn scam

• State Farm revisited

• How to drive up the cost of a birthday real fast

— Jeanine

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IN THESE, OUR (POSSIBLE) END TIMES

Is this what we must endure to get a job?

Last week, I tried tapping LinkedIn for new freelance opportunities, a process that included adding its "Open to Work" banner to my profile and, whoa, boy. Within seconds, I was contacted by around five "recruiters" looking to "help" with my job search.

I suspected these were all scammers or bots outright. Still, the messages were coming in so fast and furiously, and the profiles touted employment at some major companies (Microsoft, Adecco) I was momentarily thrown.

The major company angle — another obvious red flag in retrospect — didn't so much have me starry-eyed as I thought maybe Microsoft would have a better handle on public forum impersonations. And yet.

Anyway, I engaged with a few of these individuals (?) while scouring their profiles for signs they were, in fact, up to no good, half-just in case, half-intrigued by their end game.

It didn’t go very far, because the signs were easy to spot once I had enough time to look for them. And even though I remained curious about their angle, it wasn’t enough to go beyond sharing a single resume.

When I shared said resume (which, listen, I should not have done), the "recruiter" replied that it was getting rejected by the company's Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and asked me to revise and resend it. I can't share a screenshot of this conversation because I was out of pocket at the time, and by the time I got back into pocket — POOF! — like Keyser Söze, this "recruiter" was gone.

In fact, all of the screenshots in this newsletter are from a repeat experiment in which I turned off and turned back on the "Open to Work" banner as most of my new friends had disappeared while writing this, which just goes to show you how prevalent and constant this particular scheme is. See Exhibit B:

What's the deal?

Given the ATS feedback, it's probably fair to say I was a target of this scheme, in which fake recruiters work in tandem to get you to pay for resume-writing services.

Broadly speaking, however, LinkedIn has become a hotbed for scams in recent years, with various studies pointing to a rise in fraudulent activity on the platform. Beyond phony recruiters, LinkedIn users need to watch for fake job postings, fake job offers, fake tech support, fake investment opportunities, and even fake romantic prospects.

Experts largely attribute the uptick to LinkedIn's large and lucrative user base, unstable unemployment rates, the rise and desirability of remote work, and users' long-term trust in and dependency on the platform.

Scammers are after "all of it," said Mark Anthony Dyson, author of The Job Scam Report, a newsletter dedicated to helping jobseekers avoid financial fraud and identity theft, when I asked what they're generally trying to get from you.

"Personal information can be repurposed for deviant purposes for years," Dyson adds. "They intend to become you. Imposter scams are the staples of all scams. The more legitimate info they can steal, the more opportunities they have for financial gain."

How to spot and avoid LinkedIn scams

I contacted LinkedIn to flag the fake recruiter scam by sending along the screenshot below. I also asked what measures it was taking to tamp down on occurrences.

A spokesperson for the company sent along this message: “Our teams are constantly working to ensure that our members have a safe, secure, and easy experience when searching for a job or connecting on LinkedIn. We use artificial intelligence and teams of experts to stop the majority of fraudulent activity before our members ever see it. When our members encounter anything they believe is off or could be a scam, we encourage them to report it.”

LinkedIn also pointed me to this post from one of its VPs on how to stay safe during a job search. (Cool. Cool, cool, cool.) Beyond that, here are some steps to avoid worst-case scenarios.

• Know the telltale signs of a fake job. They include anything that seems too good to be true, like guaranteed roles, no interview requirements, outsized salaries, and 100% remote work with fully flexible hours (the dream!).

• Be wary of sus recruiters with wonky profile pics (one of my fake recruiters looked an awful lot like Kamala Harris, for instance.) or requests for payment and Social Security numbers. "Fake recruiters often request personal information upfront," Dyson says.

• Learn how real recruiters move. Recruiters working for a specific company will readily volunteer information to help you verify authenticity. Legitimate third-party or contract recruiters will typically offer references. "Mostly, they'll be glad to prove their claims," Dyson says. "Many have told me they understand the need to go beyond the call, knowing there are so many fake recruiters."

• Do your research. Contact the company directly to verify that the position exists and that the recruiter is actually an employee. "You can also Google parts of the headline or titles, and you will likely find that the profile has duplicate profiles on LinkedIn or eerily similar ones," Dyson says. He also recommends using Whois.com to verify when somebody created a website as scammers often use fake ones to lure victims.

• Avoid clicking on links or attachments until you've verified authenticity. "They will often lead to spyware and malware to invade your devices to capture private information," Dyson says.

• Report suspicious activity. You can do so via LinkedIn's Reporting a Possible Scam form.

• Widen your net(works). LinkedIn’s got a lot going on right now, TBH, and you might be better served by also tapping other tools and widening your job search. Allison Doyle, author of The Job Hopper, my favorite career advice newsletter, outlines some great alternatives in this, ahem, LinkedIn post.

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RECEIPTS

State Farm revisited

Remember that one time when State Farm raised my car insurance rates by 65% over four years, and I called them to see what the company could do about it, and State Farm basically told me, “Nothing, car parts are expensive! By the way, your rates are going up again!" so I switched to Geico and saved close to $1,000 over the next six months on my car insurance?

Yeah, that was in late March and yet State Farm just sent me a birthday card saying how happy it was to serve me as a customer.

I can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, the company could charge less if it didn't send outdated (and, quite frankly, unnecessary) marketing materials, but hey, what do I know?

In the meantime, consider this a friendly reminder to re-shop your car insurance policy every six to 12 months!

PRICE TAGS

'Birthday extras' edition

Behold, my father's $37 birthday ice cream cake. Here are some other ways to quickly run up the price of a loved one's birthday.

🤡 $15

For a 3D Pennywise the Clown birthday card from greeting card company Lovepop; personalization available for an extra $5. Cleverly marketed to people who either love or hate clowns.

🌸 $54.99

For a large birthday cake-shaped floral arrangement from 1-800-Flowers. Also available for four bi-weekly payments of $13.74 at 0% interest through “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPY) company Klarna.

🎡 $99.95

For a mini-donut "Let's Party" Ferris wheel from surprise-and-delight cake company Send A Cake, TBH, I received one of their (less expensive) explosion boxes for my birthday one year, and it was quite fun.

🧀 $139

For a birthday-themed charcuterie board from Oprah's Favorite Things-endorsed company Boarderie. Comes with a reusable cutting board, birthday candles, and the recipient's age in cheese form.

🎈$460 

For a "Superb"-sized kids' birthday party setup from GoPartyDecor.com. Includes 45 ceiling balloons, 15 floor balloons, a table skirt, two themed foil balloons, a number column, and a confetti bouquet.

⚽️ $799.99

For a 17 × 13-foot inflatable sports-themed Cloud 9 bounce house sold by Mix Wholesale through Bed Bath & Beyond. Includes a repair kit, glue, and four heavy-duty ground stakes. Requires a 1200-watt blower for use.

FRESH GREEN

Nowadays, most financial takes are boilerplate. These aren't.

• Speaking of jobs, the market's cracks are starting to show.

• Axios asking (and kind of answering) the hard questions: Will the penny loafer get a rebrand now that the penny is dead?

• Speaking of dead currency: How much cash should you carry in 2025?

• Service-y. How the GOP bill (which has passed the House, but not the Senate) could affect your money.

• Ru-oh again: Costco becomes the latest retailer to offer a BNPY program. (Please don't tell my husband, who is frequently tricked by Costco into buying things we don't need or will never use, like Tommy Bahama beach chairs and ten pounds of pancake batter.)

THIRST TRAP

And, finally, today, in things I would buy my husband if I could, you know, just buy my husband things …

Clock it to me

The Patek Philippe Complications skeleton watch in rose gold, released circa 2023 and on sale now at Sotheby's for a cool $98K. Decorated and engraved (for over 130 hours) by hand.

Imagine flexing this puppy on your next shopping trip to Costco.

Got questions, comments, receipts, tips, thirst traps, etc. you’d like to share? Send them to [email protected].

_{This article is for educational purposes only. We don’t recommend or advise individuals to buy, not buy, sell, or not sell particular investments or other assets, as everyone’s circumstances are different. Also, it’s your money and ultimately up to you to decide the best use for it.}