Fake LinkedIn profile of me: reporting and legal action

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 2 Nov 2026 · Online fraud

A fake LinkedIn profile in your name is impersonation, and Indian law treats it as several distinct wrongs at once: identity theft under s 66C of the IT Act 2000, cheating by personation under s 319 BNS where money or jobs are involved, and forgery under s 336 BNS where a document or profile is fabricated.

Impersonation on LinkedIn rarely looks like a prank. The copy usually carries your photograph, your employment history and your headline, and it exists for one of three reasons: to borrow your credibility while approaching recruiters or clients, to cheat candidates who are told to pay a placement fee, or to damage you with people who matter in your industry. Each of those is a different wrong with a different remedy, and knowing which one you are facing decides where you go first.

This guide separates the three, then sets out the reporting route and the legal provisions that apply. It is written for the person who has just found the duplicate and wants to act before the copy has done its damage.

Three wrongs wearing one face

Identity theft. Section 66C of the Information Technology Act, 2000 punishes the dishonest or fraudulent use of another person's electronic signature, password or other unique identification feature. A profile built on your name, photograph and professional history is a use of your identifying features, and where the purpose is fraudulent the section applies directly. Section 66 covers unauthorised access to a computer resource, which is the charge that fits an account taken over rather than copied.

Cheating by personation. Where the fake profile is used to induce payments — a candidate told to pay a "security deposit" for a job that does not exist, or a client asked to remit an advance — the conduct is cheating by personation under s 319 BNS, read with s 318(4) BNS for the dishonest inducement of property. Section 66D of the IT Act covers the same conduct where a computer resource is the instrument. The victim here is the person who paid, and you are the person whose identity was used, which is why your complaint needs to make clear that you did not receive the money.

Forgery and defamation. A fabricated profile, or a fabricated experience letter or offer letter issued in your name, is a forged electronic record within s 336 BNS. If the copy publishes statements about you that are false and damaging — that you were dismissed, that you defrauded an employer — s 356 BNS covers defamation, with the civil action for defamation running in parallel. Where the fake profile is used to threaten or extort you, s 351 BNS (criminal intimidation) and s 308 BNS (extortion) become relevant.

Why the takedown request and the FIR are not the same thing

Reporting the profile gets it removed. It does not identify who created it, and it does not create a record that protects you when a candidate who paid money files a complaint naming you. Those are separate objectives and they need separate steps.

The takedown runs through LinkedIn's impersonation reporting flow and, if the platform does not act, through its grievance officer under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under those Rules the grievance officer must acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and dispose of it within fifteen days. Where a court or a government agency sends an order, the intermediary must act on it within thirty-six hours. Section 79 of the IT Act gives the platform safe harbour only if it observes this due diligence, so an unanswered complaint is also the foundation of a claim that the platform lost its protection.

The FIR runs through s 173 BNSS at the police station with jurisdiction. That is what creates the official record, and it is what allows the police to requisition subscriber details, IP logs and device information from the platform. Without it, LinkedIn will not ordinarily disclose who is behind the account, and no amount of reporting will produce a name.

Step by step

Capture the profile before you report it. Take full-page screenshots that include the URL, the profile photograph, the headline and the experience section. Note the date and time with the time zone visible. Do this first, because the profile often disappears the moment it is reported.
Check whether it is really a duplicate. Search your name with and without your middle initial, and check whether the copy has connected to your colleagues. A profile that merely shares your name is not impersonation, and reporting it wastes the first twenty-four hours.
Report through LinkedIn's impersonation flow. Select the "fake profile" category rather than the general abuse category. You will be asked to identify yourself and the profile you say is fake; provide your own profile URL as the reference.
Write to the grievance officer. State that the profile is an impersonation, list the elements copied, name the harm already caused, and ask for removal and for preservation of the account's registration data and login logs pending a police requisition.
Warn the people who are being targeted. If the copy is approaching recruiters or candidates, post once from your real profile and message the recruiters who may already have been contacted. This is the step that stops the fraud from growing while the platform reviews.
Call 1930 if anyone has paid money. The helpline routes to the financial chain and can flag the beneficiary account. Do it the same day the payment is discovered, not after the platform replies.
File on cybercrime.gov.in and then file the FIR. Attach the screenshots with a certificate under s 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. Ask the police to requisition the registration data from LinkedIn, because that data is the only route to a name.
If the station will not register, go to the Magistrate. Section 175(3) BNSS allows an application to the Magistrate to direct registration or investigation. In Kolkata this is ordinarily filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Bankshall Court.
Consider a civil injunction. A suit can seek an injunction restraining the continued use of your name and photograph, and damages. It is slow, but it is the only remedy that binds a defendant the criminal process cannot identify.

What each forum can and cannot do

Forum	What it delivers	What it cannot do
LinkedIn impersonation report	Removal of the fake profile if the policy is breached	Identify the person, order compensation, compel evidence
Grievance officer	Written decision within fifteen days, escalation to the appellate committee	Investigate the offence or punish anyone
1930 and cybercrime.gov.in	Freezing of funds, a national complaint record	Register an FIR on its own
Police station, s 173 BNSS	FIR, requisition of subscriber data and logs, seizure, arrest	Decide guilt or award damages
Magistrate, s 175(3) BNSS	Direction to register or investigate	Try the offence at that stage
Civil court	Injunction, damages, a decree against an identified defendant	Punish a crime or obtain logs without a separate order

What the platform actually checks

Impersonation reports are not decided by sentiment. The review team compares the reported profile with the one you identify as your own and looks for a match on the photograph, the name, the headline and the work history. It then asks whether the copy presents itself as the same person to third parties. A profile that uses your photograph but a different name and employer may survive the review even though it is plainly using your image, because the policy test is impersonation of a person, not resemblance.

This is why your report should list the copied elements one by one rather than assert that the profile is fake. If the copy has already approached people, name them in the report and describe what was said. Where the copy is using your employer's name as well, report it to the company's security or legal team at the same time, because a complaint from the brand owner often moves faster than an individual one. And if the first review comes back as no action taken, resubmit with the additional evidence rather than starting a fresh report, since a resubmission stays with the same review thread and preserves the earlier correspondence.

What decides the outcome

Whether the copy is obviously you. Impersonation cases turn on identification: the same photograph, the same employers in the same order, the same headline, the same contact details. A profile that shares only your name and city is weak ground, and the platform will say so.

Whether anyone was actually deceived. A fake profile that nobody contacted is an irritant. A fake profile that induced three candidates to pay a deposit each is a cheating case with identified victims, and it moves quickly once those victims give statements.

Whether the fake profile is still live. Preservation requests are only useful while the account exists. Once it is deleted, the registration data may still be recoverable from the platform, but only on a police requisition, and only for as long as the platform retains it.

Whether your own record is clean. If the copy used a photograph you posted publicly and your designation from a public directory, the platform may treat the case as a lookalike rather than an impersonation. Screenshot your real profile as it stood before the copy appeared, so the comparison is documented.

Mistakes to avoid

Messaging the fake profile. This tells the operator that you have noticed, and the profile usually vanishes within hours with its logs intact but its registration data harder to requisition.
Reporting only to the platform and stopping there. Removal without an FIR leaves no record when a defrauded candidate later names you in a complaint.
Posting the fake profile's photograph on your own feed. Republishing someone's image can create a separate complaint against you, and it warns the operator.
Filing in the wrong district. Jurisdiction ordinarily follows your residence or the place where the effects were felt; filing at the location of a company you have never dealt with invites a transfer application.
Assuming the police will find the person. Without a requisition to LinkedIn for registration data and IP logs, there is nothing to investigate. Ask for that requisition in your written complaint.

When a lawyer is needed

Reporting a duplicate profile is something you can do yourself in an afternoon. A lawyer becomes relevant when the copy has already caused financial loss to third parties and you need to establish that you were not part of it, when the platform refuses to remove a profile that plainly copies your identity, when the impersonation is being used to defame you professionally and an injunction is the only thing that will stop it, or when the police will not register the FIR without a direction from a Magistrate. In those situations the deliverable is a documented record — a complaint that names the sections, a certificate that makes the screenshots admissible, and an application that a court can act on. The cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata page sets out how that is handled in this jurisdiction, and criminal defence is the relevant track if you have been wrongly named as the operator of a fake profile.

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Frequently asked questions

Is creating a fake LinkedIn profile a crime in India?

Yes, where the purpose is fraudulent. It falls under s 66C of the IT Act 2000 as identity theft, and under s 319 BNS for cheating by personation if anyone was deceived. A fabricated profile or document in your name is also a forged electronic record under s 336 BNS.

How do I report a fake LinkedIn profile in my name?

Use LinkedIn's impersonation reporting flow and select the fake profile category, citing your own profile URL as the reference. Then write to the grievance officer asking for removal and for preservation of the account's registration data and logs. Capture screenshots before reporting, because the profile often disappears.

Will LinkedIn remove a fake profile and how long does it take?

LinkedIn removes profiles that breach its impersonation policy, but it does not publish a fixed decision timeline. In India the grievance officer must acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours and dispose of it within 15 days under the IT Rules 2021. A court or government order must be actioned within 36 hours.

Can the police find out who made the fake profile?

Only if they requisition the data. LinkedIn will not disclose registration details, IP addresses or device information to a victim directly, but it will respond to a lawful request from an investigating agency. That is why the FIR should specifically ask the police to requisition the account's registration data.

Can I sue someone for impersonating me on LinkedIn?

Yes. A civil suit can seek an injunction restraining further use of your name and photograph, and damages for defamation or passing off. The practical difficulty is identifying the defendant, which is why the criminal route to obtain the registration data usually comes first.

What if the fake profile is cheating job candidates?

Report it immediately to 1930 if payments were made, because the helpline can flag the beneficiary account the same day. Then file an FIR under s 319 read with s 318(4) BNS. Your complaint should state clearly that you did not receive any money and did not authorise the profile.

Does reporting a fake profile put my own account at risk?

No. Impersonation reports are reviewed against the profile you identify, not against the reporter. Keep your own account secure with two-factor authentication and a unique password, and do not message the fake profile, since contacting it only alerts the operator.

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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