Chinese spies using online job platforms to recruit, Five Eyes security alliance warns
Five Eyes agencies say fake recruiters on LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork offer hundreds to thousands of dollars for reports and sensitive details.
- On Wednesday, the Five Eyes alliance—comprising the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—issued an unprecedented joint warning about Chinese military intelligence aggressively using online job platforms to recruit individuals with access to sensitive information.
- Intelligence operatives pose as private consultancies, think tanks, or human resources firms, placing job advertisements for foreign policy and defense analysts to target government, military, and think-tank personnel. This aggressive online recruitment strategy exploits professional networking sites like LinkedIn.
- Recruited individuals receive payments ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per commissioned report, sometimes in cryptocurrency. Successful recruitment has led to criminal prosecutions, job losses, and security-clearance revocations among Five Eyes personnel.
- Beijing has repeatedly rejected such claims, calling them "pure fabrication and malicious slander." The Five Eyes alliance, rooted in World War II cooperation, remains one of the world's most comprehensive intelligence-sharing partnerships.
131 Articles
131 Articles
FBI warns some online job offers may have a hidden goal: recruiting spies for China
The FBI and its intelligence partners across the Five Eyes alliance have issued a joint warning that Chinese military intelligence services are using fake online job advertisements to infiltrate sensitive Western networks. The Five Eyes Alliance detailed the warning in a June 3, 2026, bulletin titled “Safeguarding Our Secrets.” According to the update, released jointly by the FBI, Britain’s MI5, Canada’s CSIS, Australia’s ASIO, and New Zealand’s…
FBI Says China Is Using Career Websites Like LinkedIn And Indeed To Track And Recruit Spies
China is using professional career websites like LinkedIn to follow and possibly recruit spies, according to a warning from the FBI. The other “Five Eyes” intelligence agencies from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand co-signed the alert. “China’s military intelligence services are using an increasingly wide array of professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes government and military personnel — …
Behind certain job offers published on well-known platforms, would hide a very different objective than that of simple recruitment. ...
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 w…
Five Eyes Flags Chinese Recruiting Efforts On LinkedIn
The Five Eyes intelligence alliance has issued a rare joint warning alleging that Chinese military intelligence services are using online job platforms and professional networking websites to recruit individuals with access to sensitive government and defense information. According to the warning, intelligence operatives allegedly pose as private consulting firms, think tanks, or recruitment agencies to attract foreign policy experts, defense an…
FBI, MI5 warn against stepped-up Chinese military spying
Chinese military intelligence services are using Western professional networking platforms and online job sites to obtain secrets, according to a threat notice issued by the FBI, Britain's MI5 security service and three other allied security agencies.
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