70,000 Euros for Murder: Iranian Catphishers Try to Snare Israelis

Jerusalem, 21 December, 2023 (TPS) -- The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) thwarted and exposed Iranian efforts online to recruit Israeli citizens to carry out terror attacks in recent months, it was cleared for publication on Thursday.

The Iranian agents set up false accounts on various social media platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X). They then tried to draw Israelis into their influence through the promise of jobs, money, gifts, services, dating and more. Other recruiting attempts were made through an unspecified website app that connects job seekers with service providers.

Eventually, the Israelis would be asked to perform seemingly innocent tasks that benefitted Iranian intelligence such as taking photos of a certain location, providing information about a street address or to act against the families of hostages. In one case, an Israeli was offered 70,000 Euros to commit a murder.

But the requests, as well as the frequent broken Hebrew grammar, raised the suspicions of some Israelis who alerted security officials. In an audio recording released by the Shin Bet, the Iranian offered an Israeli man $100 to photograph a certain house. The Israeli repeatedly replied that he could do it on Sunday, but the Iranian does not understand that.

The Shin Bet said it was able to identify and monitor many fictitious profiles and even some of the Iranians behind the online activities.

The agency also released a video featuring screenshots from the fake accounts and chats. The video included a warning issued in Farsi directly to the Iranians.

A Shin Bet agent said, “If you play with fire, it will have dangerous implications. I advise you to guard your lives and your families by not getting into things that are none of your business.”