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   Next Article → COUNTER-TERRORISM: Recruiting Blondes For The Cause
February 15, 2009: China continues to use "honey trap" (sex scandal) operations with great success. It was recently revealed that four Taiwanese government officials were lured to a Chinese red light district, and covertly captured on video doing something they could be blackmailed (into spying for China) for.

The Chinese, and the Russians, have been doing this sort of thing for years. It sometimes backfires. This happened three years ago, when a blackmail demand was made to the head of the encrypted communications section of the Japan's Shanghai consulate. The man was being pressured by Chinese agents to hand over sensitive intelligence, or be exposed for sexual activities the Chinese lured him into (a "honey trap"). The Japanese diplomat committed suicide instead, while also alerting his superiors. Having the victim kill himself, instead of cooperating, is always a risk when running a honey trap.

The Taiwanese used their recent honey trap experience as a warning to all other Taiwanese officials who travel to China. Sometimes the Chinese attempt to use the honey trap in foreign countries, but this is more dangerous. If the local police find out, the Chinese can lose some valuable agents, and get some of their diplomats expelled as well. But overall, the Chinese have been quite successful with honey traps, and continue to use them. So do the Russians, and many other countries.

 

 Next Article → COUNTER-TERRORISM: Recruiting Blondes For The Cause
  

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smitty237    Risky Business   2/16/2009 1:20:05 AM
Apparently the Israelis used this tactic quite effectively, especially against Arabs, for whom sex scandals would not only be embarassing, but possibly deadly.  The tactic is covered in the book By Way of Deception by Victor Ostrovsky, a former member of the Mossad. 
 
The Israelis would find their target and then send a beautiful prostitute to seduce them.  The woman would then lure the target to her apartment or hotel room, which would be festooned with cameras that would record the results.  Mossad agents would later track down the target and confront him with the damning pictures.  The target was told that if he did not provide intelligence information the incriminating pictures would be made public.  The threat alone was often enough to compel the target to cooperate, and since suicide is a mortal sin in Islam (with the exception of martyrdom) the target could be vulnerable to blackmail for their entire career.
 
The book explains that using this tactic wasn't always as simple as it seemed, and a major hurdle was getting usable pictures.  In order for the blackmail to be effective you had to get the man and the woman's face in the picture, along with the sex act, which meant you had to have good lighting and not be under the covers.  This is simple enough when you're posing for pictures, but could be tricky without an actual photographer moving around the room or telling the actors what to do.  Another issue is that you never really know how the target will react.  Most of the time they reacted with shock and horror, but in at least one case the target was delighted by the photographs and asked for copies! 
 
Oh well. 
 
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willkill4rice       2/16/2009 11:02:20 AM
Why would what worked for Paris Hilton or Screech be so damaging to a Western public servant?
 
Sure, it would be embarrassing to your wife and family, but look at Bill Clinton. Why wouldnt many just shrug it off and apologize?
 
Not sure why this works so well, unless it was a young/same sex prostitute or involving something else which may prove more embarrassing or illegal.
 
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Some Guy    An oldy but a goody...   2/16/2009 12:49:11 PM
"Most of the time they reacted with shock and horror, but in at least one case the target was delighted by the photographs and asked for copies!  "
 
Heh.  This is an old story but a good one.  I first hear it in the mid-1980s when the intelligence agency was the KGB and the target was some French diplomat who was allegedly delighted to have his virility made public.  I suspect it was an old story 50 years ago. 
 
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FJV       2/16/2009 1:20:52 PM
Then there is the story mentioned in the book Spycatcher about a diplomat that was warned of this beforehand, however he decided that this one was just too good looking to ignore. So he wore a pillowcase he prepared beforehand with holes cut out to see through over his head during the act.
 
 
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