A Chinese intelligence officer used a stock trading chat group on WeChat to entice a 24-year-old US Navy petty officer named Thomas Zhao to share sensitive military information. The officer initially engaged Zhao in conversations about investment strategies before gradually shifting the focus to classified topics like naval exercises and radar installations. This case highlights a new tactic employed by Chinese intelligence, dubbed 'virtual espionage,' where agents target individuals on social media and professional networking sites to extract sensitive data.
The Chinese intelligence officer who convinced Thomas Zhao to hand over sensitive information about the U.S. military seemed to know the 24-year-old U.S. Navy petty officer had a passion for the stock market. The agent approached Zhao in a stock trading chat group on the Chinese-owned social media network WeChat, CBS News learned in interviews with people involved in the case.
'They are reaching out to as many people as possible and hoping to get some response.'In the last two years, federal law enforcement has identified a dozen such cases and brought charges against four service members recruited by suspected undercover agents of China. Vorndran said given the difficulty in policing this kind of outreach, he's concerned the number could be far higher.'We investigate everyone we can identify and predicate an investigation on,' said Vorndran.
CHINESE ESPIONAGE VIRTUAL ESPIONAGE SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITMENT MILITARY INTELLIGENCE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
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