The Dark Pattern Behind Fake LinkedIn Job Posts

I’ve been tracking a pattern on LinkedIn for a while now, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

Fake or low-intent job posts that ask you to “Easy Apply” and “Follow company” not because they actually need applicants, but because they want followers, free work, or leverage.

This isn’t accidental. It’s a system.

How the play works

The setup is simple and repeatable.

A company creates a vague job post. The role sounds attractive, but the details are thin. They add a low-friction Easy Apply flow and prominently include a Follow company checkbox or button.

A percentage of applicants follow the page automatically.

Result:

The company gains 50–100+ followers in a single day, without hiring anyone.

This happens every day.

Why follower count matters

On LinkedIn, followers aren’t just vanity.

Follower count equals perceived legitimacy.

More followers make a company:

Look more established than it is

Easier to recruit later

Easier to sell products or services

Easier to fake momentum

That number becomes social proof, even if the job was never meant to be filled.

The second variant: free labor disguised as screening

Some job posts go a step further.

Instead of just applying, the form asks for:

Work samples

A “small coding task”

A short design or product exercise

The pitch is always the same: *“This helps us screen candidates.”*

In reality, some companies collect these submissions, don’t hire anyone, and later reuse the work or the ideas. This isn’t theoretical. People on Reddit and in hiring circles have documented it repeatedly.

You’re not an applicant. You’re an unpaid contributor.

The darker variant: phishing and identity harvesting

There’s an even worse version of this pattern.

Fake job posts redirect applicants to external forms asking for:

Personal identification details

Bank information

Copies of documents

Or they send fake offer letters that require a “processing” payment

This is classic job-scam behavior. When you see it, report it immediately.

Quick red flags to watch for

You don’t need to overanalyze every post. A few signals are usually enough.

Be cautious if:

The job lists no company domain (only Gmail, Hotmail, etc.)

The company page has very few followers, but the job has huge reach

“Easy Apply” redirects to an external form asking for unnecessary personal data

The post insists you follow, share, or promote the company

You’re asked to build a full feature or product before any real interview

None of these alone prove bad intent. Together, they’re a pattern.

The TLDR

Treat any LinkedIn Easy Apply that asks you to:

Follow the company

Share the post

Or build a real product upfront

as suspect.

Don’t be a portfolio donor.

Don’t confuse visibility with legitimacy.

And don’t assume every job post is acting in good faith.

If this happened to you, you’re not alone.

And if you’ve seen it too, talk about it.

That’s the only way these patterns stop working.