Twenty-one-year-old Elimelech Stern is suspected of completing “missions” given to him by a social media user with the pseudonym “Anna Elena” in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards.
The suspect, charged Tuesday, was tasked with posting public notices in Tel Aviv, hiding money in various locations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and delivering packages containing threatening messages, including a severed head of an animal, to the doorsteps of Israeli citizens, and completed the tasks, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and the police said.
The ISA, also known as Shin Bet or Shabak, is Israel’s domestic security agency.
Stern was also asked to start a forest fire and kill someone, according to the joint statement, but did not carry out these tasks.
The security authorities allege that Stern recruited and paid two additional Israeli citizens to perform some of the tasks. The two other citizens were interrogated and released from custody at the end of their investigation while they await a decision on their case, the authorities said.
The Israeli security services did not say how they traced the case to Iranian intelligence other than saying that widely distributed text messages of a similar nature contained a reference to the website of the International Security Agency of Iran.
“The use of the method of contacting Israeli citizens through social networks, under the false representation of the identity of the person making the request, is a well-known method of operation of the Iranian intelligence agencies,” the authorities said.
The Israeli authorities said that Iran has ramped up efforts to recruit Israeli citizens for tasks, some of which at first seem innocent, to “aim to harm Israel’s national resilience and war effort, sow demoralization and widen social divisions.”
The joint statement from the Shin Bet and Israeli police said that “In recent months, many fake profiles used by Iranian security agents have been identified and monitored, and extensive information about the operators behind them has been gathered.”
“These contacts were made through social platforms and job websites offering paid gigs, with activities conducted across all social networks, including Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter (X), presenting false pretenses to create the initial contact. The approach was made in various languages, including Hebrew and English.”
“This method of using social networks as a platform to deceptively recruit Israelis for missions, even those appearing innocent, poses a convenient and accessible platform for a real threat to state security.”
CNN has reached out to Iranian authorities for comment.
