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posted by mrpg on Saturday December 16 2017, @12:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the linked-in-crime dept.

Germany says China using LinkedIn to recruit informants

The German domestic intelligence agency (BfV) says China is using fake profiles on social media to target German officials and politicians. "This is a broad-based attempt to infiltrate, in particular, parliaments, ministries and government agencies," said BfV head Hans-Georg Maassen on Sunday (10 December).

Maassen said more than 10,000 Germans have been approached by the alleged ruse from Chinese profiles posing as reputable professionals on social networking site LinkedIn.

The BfV released around half dozen fake LinkedIn profiles of young attractive Chinese professionals. Among them is Laeticia Chen who supposedly works at the China Center for International Politics and Economy. Another, Eva Han, is from the China University of Political Science and Law.

The people behind the suspected profiles attempt to link to others, asking them to contact them. The BfV says the moves are designed to possibly recruit high-ranking officials to become Chinese informants.


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 16 2017, @01:56PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 16 2017, @01:56PM (#610691)

    Not that it was great before, but once Microsoft bought LinkedIn, that was it for me. I never accepted any of the recommendations for different skills (whatever that circle jerk is called), although various people tried to give them to me. Deleting my account didn't feel very convincing, they must still have my name and company name, which was about all I provided.

    The Chinese can have it as far as I'm concerned.

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 16 2017, @07:40PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday December 16 2017, @07:40PM (#610770) Journal

    Facebook for job hoppers.

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 17 2017, @03:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 17 2017, @03:59PM (#611000)

      it wasnt always like that. it only became like that when regular people joined it.

      it used to be a sort of clique of non-salary workers looking to make the next deal--contractors, sales, etc... looking to put contacts in contact with someone who can help both make money.

      now its just profile shilling i guess. i dont use it anymore --i just have a stale account that i check every quarter or half year or so now (its been around long enough to say checking it yearly seems to be good enough...) but ive found it is not possible to not have an account at places like that. too many companies search on them for info and if you are not there then you must have a problem of some kind.