We uncovered many of the targets and managed to thwart your plans
Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency announced on Thursday multiple attempts by Iran to covertly recruit Israeli citizens for actions against the state were uncovered, under the guise of odd job adverts or catfishing, to name just a few of the thwarted operations.
In the announcement, Shin Bet revealed some of the correspondence between Israeli citizens and Iranian security officials, giving one example of a young woman requesting a murder for hire, as well as other catfishing attempts on social networks and freelance service websites.
Another example was a recording of a conversation between an Iranian agent and an Israeli citizen, requesting pictures of a random location in Israel for a payment of $100, or checking up on an address. Some who received such suspicious inquiries avoided responding, others even alerted the Shin Bet or other security officials.
Many of these requests seemed unrelated to security or espionage, but were described by the Shin bet as “definitely servicing the Iranians and enriching their intelligence.” The most cynical manipulation was the Iranian use of hostage issues, trying to incite actions against the real bereaved families of the fallen and abducted.
Some of the regular services used to initiate first contact came as apartment brokers, courier services, private investigators, drone sales, requests for photo shoots, offers of online dating, and more. The platforms used were wide ranging, notably Facebook, Telegram, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), and were written in English, Arabic or Hebrew.
The Shin Bet stated that it was sharing their findings now, after collecting a lot of information about the identities behind the Iranian espionage efforts, and were now taking steps in order to end such operations.
“For a long time we have been closely following your empty efforts. We uncovered many of the targets and managed to thwart your plans. All your activities to Israeli citizens, Arabs and Jews, are under the strict control and supervision of the Shin Bet and will be immediately thwarted. We warn you, playing with fire has serious and dangerous consequences,” the security agency sent as a video message back to the Iranians, as a countermeasure.
“Since the beginning of the war, it is evident that the activities of the Iranian security forces have greatly intensified, making extensive use of the digital space for the purposes of fear, conveying messages or promoting disguised terrorist activity. Its purpose is to help Hamas in its war and to damage Israel’s national resilience and war effort, sowing demoralization and creating social rifts,” the Shin Bet stated in a press release.