German intelligence unmasks alleged covert Chinese social media profiles

BERLIN: Germany’s intelligence service has published the details of social network profiles which it says are fronts faked by Chinese intelligence to gather personal information about German officials and politicians.

The BfV domestic intelligence service took the unusual step of naming individual profiles it says are fake and fake organisations to warn public officials about the risk of leaking valuable personal information via social media.

“Chinese intelligence services are active on networks like LinkedIn and have been trying for a while to extract information and find intelligence sources in this way,” including seeking data on users’ habits, hobbies and political interests, they said.

Nine months of research had foundthatmorethan10,000German citizens had been contacted on the LinkedIn networking site by fake profiles disguised as headhunters, consultants, think-tankers or scholars, the BfV said.

Many of the profile pictures show stylish and visually appealing young men and women.

A review of the profiles showed that some were connected to senior diplomats and politicians from several European countries.

There was no way to establish whether contacts had taken place beyond the initial social media ‘add’. — Reuters

Lebanese security forces fire tear gas to disperse protesters during a demonstration outside the US embassy in Awkar. — AFP photo