Chinese Spies Posing as Recruiters Target Western Government Secrets, Five Eyes Warns

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, comprising security agencies from Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, has issued a warning about Chinese spies exploiting job recruitment as a tactic to obtain state secrets. These intelligence services are reportedly advertising false positions, such as foreign policy or defense analysts, on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn.

Operatives pose as human resources consultants or employees of seemingly legitimate private consultancies or think tanks based outside of China. During the interview process, they pressure candidates into disclosing non-public information, often by requiring them to write reports. The targets are frequently individuals with security clearance, military personnel, journalists, and academics.

Military staff may be specifically asked about their roles, unit activities, home bases, or naval vessel assignments. The agencies noted that recruits can receive payments ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report. They may also be offered more money for increasingly sensitive data.

Even unclassified information can be valuable to the Chinese government, potentially endangering frontline military personnel, undermining economic prosperity, and interfering with democratic processes. The Five Eyes alliance highlighted that several individuals have fallen victim to this scam, resulting in criminal prosecutions, job losses, and the revocation of security clearances. Western spy agencies have consistently warned about espionage threats from China, as well as Russia and Iran, in recent years.

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Certain types of data can place the lives of frontline military or other personnel at risk, can weaken our economic prosperity, and enable interference in our democratic processes.