Lonely Indian soldiers catfished by Pakistani spies
Senior general warns soldiers to be sceptical of phony Facebook accounts
Pakistani operatives are posing as attractive women online to “catfish” Indian soldiers into handing over sensitive information, military chiefs have warned.
Beware of Russian honeytraps, MI5 tells UK business
Indian Army personnel have been warned to be on their guard or face severe consequences, following a series of cases in which soldiers’ online paramours turned out to be working on behalf of ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
In the latest case, a private in the Armoured Corps was “found sharing pictures and location of exercises involving Arjun tanks” with a woman he met on Facebook who was actually an ISI operative, the Deccan Herald reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The 22-year-old was arrested by police in Rajasthan. If convicted of violating India’s Official Secrets Act, he faces up to three years in prison.
Investigators have since established that as many as 50 other soldiers may have been in touch with the agent, who posed as an Indian Army nurse called Anika Chopra.
“In her profile picture, she is seen wearing a green saree and a pretty smile,” says News 18. “That smile has now landed 50 jawans [soldiers] under the scanner of intelligence agencies.”
Under military regulations introduced in 2015, servicemen are banned from sharing any operational information online. However, this has not prevented a series of high-profile embarrassments involving honey-trap scams.
The Deccan Herald notes that the latest incident “comes a year after an Indian Air Force Group Captain was arrested on espionage charges for sharing classified information to a woman, suspected to be a Pakistani spy, using social media”.
Some Pakistani operatives “use Bollywood actresses’ names to entice recruits into online relationships”, CNN reports.
Last week, India’s senior army officer admitted that “a lot of people” had fallen victim to such scams, and urged soldiers to be sceptical of fake accounts.
“I tell my boys: Do you think that your film star wants to become friendly with you?” General Bipin Rawat said during an address to the media. “But yet people are getting trapped by these names.”
He encouraged any soldiers who had been taken in by online catfish to come forward or risk dire consequences.
“For those people who are not reporting the matter, if it comes to our notice that they have been continuously flouting the rules of social media, the punishment being meted is heavy,” he said.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is the Gaza war tearing US university campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Imran Khan sentenced to 10 years: how powerful is Pakistan's military?
Today's Big Question The country's armed forces ignore country's economic woes, control its institutions and, critics say, engineer election results
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Pervez Musharraf: military dictator who became a valued US ally
feature Divisive army chief worked with President Bush to take on the Taliban after 9/11
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia asks India to send supplies as sanctions derail Moscow's economy
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Is Henry Kissinger right about Ukraine?
Speed Read The US statesman made a controversial speech at a virtual Davos appearance last week
By The Week Staff Published
-
How the Taliban is rolling back the freedoms of the past 20 years
Speed Read Supreme leader has now announced that all women must cover their faces in public
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused evacuation as Russian hitmen ‘parachuted’ into Kyiv
Speed Read Ukrainian president turned down opportunity to leave capital despite threat to life, adviser claims
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia can still ‘win’ Ukraine war, Western officials warn
Speed Read Vladimir Putin adjusts tactics after ‘humiliation’ for second phase of invasion
By The Week Staff Published
-
U.S., India to continue 'close consultation' on managing effects of Russian invasion, Biden says
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published