A few months ago, someone tried to hack my computer during a job interview.
I was looking for new opportunities and got contacted by what seemed like a legitimate company. They scheduled an interview and sent me a meeting link. Something felt off.
I checked the link carefully before clicking, and the URL didn't match a real meeting platform I was familiar with. When I asked them to send me a Google Meet link instead, they said "Google is banned in China." They sent another link that looked slightly more legit, but still felt suspicious.
Five minutes before the meeting, they started pushing me to click. Urgency. Pressure. Classic social engineering.
I didn't click. Later I learned this is a known scam: once you open the link, they gain control of your computer.
Here's what bothered me: I've worked in tech for about 6 years now. I know what phishing looks like. And I still almost fell for it because when you're job searching and someone offers you an interview, your guard is down.
I wondered, if it's that hard for me to spot, how many people are clicking these links every day?
I tried some URL check services, but some were flagging it as safe, while others as unsafe. Also, I had to sign up, pay, agree to terms, accept cookies... it was a mess.
So I built a tool to fix this: Meeting Link Scanner.
You paste any meeting link from Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or any other platform, and get an instant verdict: safe or suspicious.
Free. No sign-up.
No data stored. Zero tracking.
Results in milliseconds.
I designed the brand, built the product, developed the website, and optimized it for search all myself.
You can check it out here: https://meetinglinkscanner.com
If you know someone who's job searching, freelancing, or regularly joining meetings with new people, please share this with them. It takes 2 seconds to check a link and could save them from a serious breach.
I'd love to hear feedback from the IH community on the UI, or if anyone else here has run into this specific social engineering tactic while job hunting!
