China used fake LinkedIn profiles to harvest sensitive data from NATO and EU institutions by soliciting information from staff, a European security source said on Friday.
The operation, allegedly orchestrated by the Chinese Ministry of State Security, targeted dozens of employees at the military alliance or EU organizations through fictitious accounts, the source said, confirming reports in French and Belgian media.
Posing as recruiters on the online professional networking platform, Chinese spies would initially request paid reports before later soliciting non-public or even classified information.
Photo: AFP
One particularly active fake profile used the name “Kevin Zhang,” claiming to be the head of a fictitious Hong Kong-based firm called “Oriental Consulting,” the security source said.
In return, recruits from countries including France, Belgium and the UK were paid several hundred — and in some cases several thousand — US dollars, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
For years, “various civil servants, academics and other influential figures around the world have been approached by what turned out to be an agent of the Chinese intelligence services,” Belgian Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden said.
Through this operation, “a great deal of important information and intelligence might have reached China,” she added.
She laid blame on social media, saying the Internet was a “breeding ground” that made it possible for major powers to persuade people to “engage in espionage and spread propaganda.”
Topics of interest reportedly included EU sanctions and other measures targeting China, as well as NATO’s strategy in Asia — particularly concerning Taiwan.
The former head of France’s foreign intelligence service warned in 2023 of a “massive espionage operation” launched by Beijing in 2014 — if not earlier — via social media, notably LinkedIn.
In November last year, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 warned that China was using spies disguised as head-hunters to recruit parliamentarians, through LinkedIn among others.
The Chinese embassy in London denied the allegations.
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