Spam & Anti-Spam on LinkedIn + Examples

Does unoriginal spam really work on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has become more than just a professional social network. Every day, it resembles other social media platforms more and more, with users sharing their daily lives, growing as content creators, and posting vertical videos.

Still, it remains a professional network, and as such, direct messaging has turned into another sales channel.

Let’s not forget the “comment here to receive X” trend. A fad that became popular on Instagram some time ago and has now made its way here.

Spam on LinkedIn

Since almost its inception, we’ve been trying to build relationships through posts and direct messages, but for over a year now, it’s been quite unbearable.

Why unbearable?

Partly due to advanced artificial intelligence and automation, there’s a constant influx of new connections with no other interest than to sell you something, but not in a graceful way—no personalized messages, no research on potential clients, no witty responses, nothing.

Empty messages that shamelessly try to steal 15 minutes of your time to sell you something that, due to a lack of prior research, is neither useful to you nor are you a potential client in the short or long term.

Analyzing Spam Messages on LinkedIn

Grab your coffee or beer, this is going to take a while.

First example of an automated message, presumably targeting CROs or founders. We are a startup founded by two programmers and a vibecoding enthusiast. If we want to create an MVP, it will either be Josep, Pau, or me playing around like a kid with lovable.

Hello friend, we are a fully remote company.

Hello, I’m not clear on what you do, nice to connect.

Here’s a good example; this is quality spam. It doesn’t attack me directly; it starts a mini conversation and then tries to sell me something. I’m their target, their perfect ICP, and I’m already using very similar services. When I replied that I already have a personal trainer in 2023 (not right now :S), they disappeared. They could have asked about prices, improved the offer, or the service, but no. Now in 2025, they reappear with spam again.

This isn’t spam; they just invite me to their restaurant for a paid visit, and to emphasize that it’s not spam, they offer me a free cocktail with the paid invitation. This guy or business is more exaggerated. They’ve been using private chat like a spam newsletter for almost two years, sending me their non-spam invitations every so often.

It’s not just important to establish a relationship with someone to sell them something; you also need to get straight to the point. If I had to spend 15-30 minutes on every person who adds me each week… I’d need 40 hours in a day.

No, B2C company, next.

To which I respond:

Anti-Spam

A few weeks ago, I started responding to everyone who opens a conversation to sell me something without putting in any effort with something similar:

Since they often offer me something that makes no sense for me or my company, I reply with a 100% personalized and manual message, with a bit of quality spam.

The worst part is that, from my humble perspective, they are very bad salespeople. Not one has replied or shown interest in the product. They’re trying to sell me something and don’t even bother to try our tool or understand what we actually do? Very poor, very poor XD.

My recommendation for future LinkedIn spammers is to start a conversation, personalize messages, and research what the company or person does; otherwise, you’ll find it hard to sell anything. You risk having your profile shut down after multiple spam reports, and you’re just adding noise to society.

Can you sell on LinkedIn? Yes, but put in a bit more effort, and your conversion rate will likely be much higher.

To wrap up, I’ll share a LinkedIn post I highlighted a year ago that seemed to work for a while: