Iran's money traps: How mass social media campaigns create spies

The Shin Bet has foiled dozens of efforts to recruit assassins targeting top Israeli leaders and officials, according to Israel Hayom.

According to a Shin Bet official commenting on the matter, Iran has shifted from expensive and time consuming training of spies and assassins to doing mass-market phishing operations via Google Meet and other sites. Targeted citizens are offered some easy money in exchange for all sorts of espionage, vandalism, and even assassination attempts on Israeli targets.

While most Israelis ignore these attempts, dozens do agree to try, whether for money problems or otherwise, enough to cause serious concern to the Shin Bet. So far, all such attempts have failed or been foiled, but it only takes one or two successes to cause havoc in Israel.