LinkedIn has filed a lawsuit against ProAPIs Inc. and its founder Rehmat Alam, accusing them of creating over one million fake accounts to illegally extract user data from the platform - a large-scale case of “scraping.” The legal action also targets a Pakistani company, Netswift, allegedly involved as a technical partner.
According to court filings, ProAPIs openly sold access to a tool called iScraper API, offering real-time LinkedIn data for up to $15,000 per month, while using invalid credit cards to access LinkedIn Premium services without payment. LinkedIn is seeking a permanent injunction, deletion of all stolen data, and financial compensation for damages.
LinkedIn’s Vice President of Legal, Sarah Wight, confirmed that the company quickly detected and restricted the fake accounts. She emphasized that LinkedIn “continues to invest in advanced technologies to stop unauthorized data extraction,” citing previous legal victories against similar operators like ProxyCurl. Despite the lawsuit, ProAPIs’ iScraper API reportedly remains active, though partially disrupted.
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