The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance warned Wednesday that Chinese intelligence operatives are using fake job advertisements on professional networking and employment websites, including LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork, to obtain sensitive information from government and military personnel.
According to the joint bulletin issued by Five Eyes, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, Chinese operatives allegedly pose as recruiters working for private companies and post fake job openings for positions such as foreign policy or defense analysts.
The alliance said the recruiters’ goal is “to acquire privileged military, political and economic intelligence that can provide China with a strategic and tactical advantage.”
Potential targets include government employees with security clearances, military personnel, including those stationed in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as journalists, academics and think tank staff with indirect access to government information.
Authorities said those selected are often interviewed virtually and asked to prepare reports on topics such as defense, trade or China’s relations with other countries. Over time, they may be pressured to provide more sensitive information and move conversations to encrypted messaging platforms.
According to the bulletin, recruits may be paid anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per report through payment services such as PayPal, Western Union and cryptocurrency platforms.
Britain’s Security Minister Dan Jarvis urged those who may be targeted to remain vigilant.
“I urge all government and military personnel to follow the National Protective Security Authority’s advice to spot signs of online targeting and avoid inadvertently compromising our security,” Jarvis said.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom rejected the allegations, calling them “purely false” and “malicious slander.”
“The Five Eyes alliance is the world’s largest intelligence organisation, and its members brazenly conduct espionage activities around the world. They are the real threat to peace-loving countries,” the spokesperson said.
The warning is the latest effort by Five Eyes members to raise awareness of what they describe as increasingly sophisticated online intelligence-gathering operations targeting government and military personnel.
