Chinese spies are posing as recruiters to target officials and journalists
The U.S. and its key intelligence partners say that China’s military intelligence services are using online job platforms and networking sites to lure foreigners who have access to sensitive information.
In a bulletin released this week, the so-called Five Eyes alliance warned that Chinese intelligence officers were posing as recruiters on LinkedIn and other sites to target government and military personnel as well as journalists and academics who could have access to classified or privileged information. The Five Eyes include domestic security agencies from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand
The officers build relationships with job candidates and may offer targets money in exchange for reports on topics of interest to the Chinese government, including defense and trade, according to the bulletin. Their goal is to “ultimately seek to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that can provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage over the Five Eyes,” the bulletin said.
The warning echoes the experience of reporters with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, who were recently approached by these purported recruiters. After ICIJ published China Targets, an investigation into China’s transnational repression, the targets began receiving suspicious emails and messages on LinkedIn.
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