Fake Video Call Scam: The "Fix Your Audio" Trap Targeting Developers
Cover image alt: Person on a laptop video call, illustrating a fake video call scam A message from a colleague, a meeting link, a familiar face in the lobby, then "I can't hear you, run this fix." That is a fake video call scam, and the FBI published a detailed warning on November 12, 2026. It matters to developers in particular: the FBI says the same technique is now used against open-source…
A fake video call scam targets developers, claiming the person on screen is a trusted contact. The FBI warns that hackers use stolen webcam footage to create convincing impostor videos. The scam begins with hackers secretly recording a victim's webcam and hijacking their chat account to message contacts. A link to a fake Zoom, Teams, or Meet domain arrives, often just before a meeting.
The target sees the recorded video of the person who invited them, sometimes with multiple participants. A fake audio problem then appears, and the target is prompted to click an update, which installs malware. Developers and maintainers are at risk, as hackers use the same lure to gain device access and compromise software supply chains.
To protect against the scam, the FBI recommends opening official apps with invite codes, keeping the webcam off until the inviter is seen and heard, never running scripts or pasting code during a call, updating the app separately, verifying meeting invites through separate channels, enabling multifactor authentication, and never running code a call participant tells you to paste.
If you suspect you've been targeted, the FBI advises moving crypto to a new wallet, changing passwords, logging out of all sessions, adding MFA, warning contacts and employers, and reporting the incident at IC3.gov.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
