Famed short-seller and Bronte Capital founder John Hempton says he was briefly banned from professional networking website LinkedIn because he was “rude” to scammers.

Mr Hempton, whose track record includes blowing the whistle on Australian fund manager Trio Capital in 2009, China’s Longtop Financial Technologies and Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, now says he is “extremely polite to scammers” on the social media site.