Fake Collaboration: The New Way Into Your Computer

Business SafetyCybersecurityRisk Management
Written By Marcin Sakowski

Fake Collaboration: The New Way Into Your Computer

A professional-looking business opportunity can still be a security risk

Not every dodgy online approach looks dodgy.

That is the uncomfortable part.

Sometimes it looks boringly normal. A podcast invite. A polite LinkedIn message. A few people in a Telegram group speaking like normal business people. A website that looks decent enough when you are half-reading it between calls.

No obvious pressure. No promise of easy money. No strange request for account access in the first message.

Just business, or at least something dressed up as business.

That is when people relax a bit.

Most business owners are not sitting there waiting to be tricked. They are busy. They are answering messages between calls, checking opportunities, dealing with tenants, clients, invoices, emails, family life and whatever problem is shouting loudest that day.

So when something fits the shape of a normal opportunity, it gets treated like one. Not because the person is stupid. Because the day is moving fast and the message does not look obviously wrong.

  • Somebody sounds credible, so you give them a bit more room.
  • Somebody mentions a known brand, so your guard drops slightly.
  • Somebody sends a meeting link, and you click it because calendar invites and meeting links are now just part of the working day.

But a laptop today is not just a laptop. For many people it is the front door to their business, bank accounts, cloud storage, emails, documents, property records, client details, password manager and personal life.

If somebody gets access to that, you are not dealing with one strange meeting anymore.

You are dealing with a proper mess.

This Story Is Anonymous

This article is based on a real experience shared anonymously.

No names, personal details or identifying company information are included. This is not about shaming someone, accusing a specific organisation, or turning it into internet drama.

The useful part is seeing how normal this kind of fake collaboration can look before it starts to feel wrong.

Intelligent people get caught off guard. Busy people get caught off guard. People who understand business and risk still get caught off guard when something appears to fit the pattern of a legitimate opportunity.

That is how social engineering works.

It does not need you to be foolish. It just needs you to be busy, trusting enough, slightly distracted, and not wanting to look rude.

How It Started

The first contact came through LinkedIn.

At first glance, nothing looked especially suspicious. The people involved appeared connected to a group presenting itself as linked to a recognised industry brand.

I am keeping the claimed organisation unnamed deliberately. The lesson here is not the name. It is the pattern.

The communication was calm. Some team members had LinkedIn profiles. The website looked polished. The language sounded natural enough.

There were no obvious warning signs like aggressive pressure, broken English or unrealistic financial promises. The invite was framed as a podcast interview supposedly connected to a recognised industry name.

A known name changes how people think. It should not, but it does.

You stop asking, "Could this be fake?" and start thinking, "How should I prepare?"

Small shift. Big difference.

Once your brain files something under "business opportunity", your behaviour changes. You become cooperative. You try to be efficient. You do not want to waste people's time. You do not want to appear suspicious for no reason.

Very normal human behaviour. Also very easy to exploit.

The Trust Was Built Before The Risk Appeared

This was not a crude money request.

It looked more like a gradual trust-building process.

First LinkedIn. Then Telegram. Then a group with around eight people inside it.

A group makes things feel organised. You see several people involved and part of your brain fills in the gaps: surely this would not be fake if this many people were part of it.

Bad assumption. Groups can be staged. Profiles can be built. Websites can be polished. Brand names can be borrowed. None of it proves the opportunity is legitimate.

The next steps also felt normal. A form was sent. Information was gathered. A PDF profile was prepared. It looked like pre-interview admin, and most people do not treat admin as a security risk.

But sometimes the boring admin is part of the setup.

The clever part is not always technical. Sometimes it is making everything feel routine enough that people stop checking.

Busy people are especially vulnerable to that.

The Moment The Conversation Should Have Ended

The problems started during the online meeting setup.

The tools mentioned included BraveTalk, waaako.space, Kakao and other unfamiliar communication platforms. The calls repeatedly failed.

Then came the instruction that should end the conversation immediately:

Disable or remove your antivirus software.

No legitimate business meeting should require that.

Not a podcast. Not an investor call. Not a property discussion. Not a partnership. Not a client meeting.

If someone asks you to weaken your own device security so their meeting can work, stop.

But real life is rarely that clean. By this point, confidence had already been built. The situation felt plausible. The people sounded helpful rather than threatening. The target did not want to appear paranoid, rude or difficult.

That last part matters more than people admit.

People ignore their instincts all the time because they do not want to make things awkward. Especially in business. Nobody wants to be the difficult person on a call. Nobody wants to look like they do not understand technology. Nobody wants to damage a possible opportunity by being too cautious.

This is how normal people make bad decisions under pressure. Not stupid people. Normal people.

The Risk Was Probably Not The Meeting

Applications were downloaded directly from links provided during the conversation.

For me, that is one of the biggest red flags here.

To be clear, not every unfamiliar app is malicious. Not every failed call means something is wrong. Not every Telegram conversation is a security threat. Context matters.

But put the pieces together:

  • unfamiliar meeting tools,
  • repeated failed calls,
  • direct download links,
  • a request to disable antivirus protection.

At that point, you have enough to pause and take it seriously.

The aim may not have been a direct payment. It could have been device access, browser sessions, saved credentials, email, cloud accounts, business systems, crypto wallets or financial accounts.

Nobody can prove the exact objective from the outside, so I am not going to pretend otherwise. The pattern is still useful to learn from.

Strong passwords do not solve everything if the device itself is compromised. If someone can use your machine, browser session or authenticated accounts, you have a different problem.

For a business owner, that can affect far more than one login. It can touch invoices, tenants, investors, clients, files, contracts, tax documents, bank accounts and private messages.

This is why I do not treat device security as a "tech person" issue.

It is a business issue.

Why Business Owners Are Good Targets

Business owners are trained to move quickly.

Reply fast. Take calls. Follow up. Try new tools. Say yes to opportunities. Keep the conversation moving.

That helps you get things done. It can also make you easier to steer.

Fake collaboration attempts can be dressed up as:

  • podcasts,
  • investor meetings,
  • partnerships,
  • recruitment,
  • PR opportunities,
  • speaking invitations,
  • supplier conversations,
  • property-related introductions,
  • freelance work,
  • industry networking.

The format changes, but the move is similar: make the target feel this is normal business activity, then ask them to do something they would usually question.

Let's be honest, professionalism is cheap now. A decent-looking website, a clean PDF, a few profiles and a confident message are no longer strong proof of anything.

They are just packaging.

Red Flags I Would Not Ignore

1. Moving Away From Normal Platforms

There is usually no good reason for a stranger to avoid standard tools such as Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams.

If someone insists on obscure software, slow down. If every normal tool "does not work", slow down even more.

2. Direct Download Links

Do not install meeting software from Telegram, Discord, random websites or shortened URLs.

If the software is real, get it from the official vendor website, Apple App Store, Google Play, Microsoft Store or another trusted source.

If you are unsure about a link or file, you can check it with a reputable tool such as VirusTotal. It will not make every file safe, but it is still better than clicking blind.

3. Requests To Disable Security

This is not a grey area.

If somebody asks you to disable antivirus, remove security tools or bypass warnings, the meeting is over.

You do not need to debate it.

4. Borrowed Authority

A logo proves nothing. A polished website proves nothing. A LinkedIn profile proves very little on its own.

If somebody claims a partnership with a known brand, verify it through official channels, not through the links they send you.

5. Fake Professionalism

Do not confuse calm behaviour with legitimacy.

Some of the most convincing people are calm, patient and organised. That does not make them safe.

Before You Join Any Online Business Meeting

Use this checklist before joining a meeting with people you do not already know.

  • Verify the company independently, not through links they send you.
  • Check the domain age using ICANN Lookup or another WHOIS service.
  • If it is a UK company, check Companies House.
  • Search the company name with terms such as "malware", "fake interview", "Telegram", "complaint" and "warning".
  • Search beyond Google page one, including Reddit, X and relevant communities.
  • Verify claimed partnerships directly through the official partner or media company.
  • Check whether the people contacting you have credible history, not just fresh profiles.
  • Use standard meeting platforms where possible.
  • Do not install software from direct chat links.
  • Do not disable antivirus, firewall or browser warnings.
  • Do not grant administrator permissions to unknown software.
  • Do not log into banking, crypto, email or cloud accounts during an unknown call.
  • Do not share your full screen casually; share a single window if needed.
  • Use a separate browser profile for unfamiliar meetings and research.
  • If something feels off, pause the meeting and verify before continuing.

If the other party gets irritated because you want to verify them, that tells you something.

Real professionals understand caution. The wrong people will often try to make caution feel like an insult.

If You Already Clicked Or Installed Something

Do not panic.

But do not pretend nothing happened either.

Act quickly and, where possible, use a clean device for the recovery steps.

Emergency Checklist

  • Disconnect the affected device from Wi-Fi, ethernet and Bluetooth.
  • Do not use the affected device to change passwords.
  • From a separate clean device, change passwords for priority accounts.
  • Start with email, banking, password managers, cloud storage, crypto accounts, social media and business systems.
  • Enable app-based two-factor authentication where possible.
  • Review active sessions in Gmail, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Telegram, cloud platforms and exchanges.
  • Log out unknown devices immediately.
  • Check for unfamiliar browser extensions.
  • Remove suspicious applications.
  • Run reputable security scans such as Microsoft Defender Offline Scan, Malwarebytes or another trusted security tool.
  • Check whether any recovery email addresses, phone numbers or forwarding rules were changed.
  • Review recent bank, card, crypto and account activity.
  • Tell your bank or platform provider if financial accounts may be affected.
  • If business data may be exposed, speak to a qualified cybersecurity professional.
  • If unknown software was installed with administrator permissions, consider a full operating system reinstall.

You can also check whether your email appears in known breaches using Have I Been Pwned. It will not tell you everything, but it is a useful check after a suspicious incident.

Do not rely on one quick scan and assume everything is fine.

If the device held sensitive business or financial data, treat it seriously. A few hours of caution is better than months of cleaning up a compromised account.

Useful Verification And Security Resources

These are starting points, not magic shields.

For password managers and authentication tools, look at reputable options such as Proton Pass, Bitwarden, 1Password, Microsoft Authenticator, Aegis or Proton Authenticator.

For malware checks, Microsoft Defender, Malwarebytes and established security products such as Bitdefender may be useful depending on your setup.

If you are in the UK and money, accounts or identity details may be involved, Report Fraud UK is the official reporting route. For general business security guidance, the National Cyber Security Centre is a good place to start.

The best tool is the one you actually keep updated and use properly.

Unused security tools are decoration.

A short note: This is general educational guidance, not legal, cybersecurity or incident-response advice. If sensitive business data, client data, financial accounts or regulated information may have been exposed, speak to a qualified professional.

The Bigger Lesson

The mistake was not trusting people.

Business needs trust. Without trust, nothing moves.

The mistake was treating appearance as proof.

That is where people get caught. A calm tone, a logo, a clean website and a few LinkedIn profiles can make something feel real before it has actually been checked.

AI will probably make this worse. Fake websites, fake voices, fake people, fake messages and fake authority are likely to become easier to produce and harder to spot when you are moving quickly.

That does not mean you should become paranoid.

It means you need a simple rule:

Verify before installing anything.

Verify before joining strange platforms.

Verify before giving access.

And if somebody asks you to weaken your own device security, stop.

No debate. No politeness problem. No worrying about looking difficult.

The meeting is over.

The most dangerous approaches do not always begin with threats. Sometimes they begin with a polite message, a clean website and somebody who sounds like they know what they are doing.

Scepticism is not negativity. It is basic business hygiene.

If a business opportunity requires you to weaken your own security, it is no longer an opportunity. It is a warning.

Marcin Sakowski https://marcinsakowski.com
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