The Security Service of Ukraine warns about a new tactic by Russian special services attempting to recruit Ukrainians.
Recently, there has been an increase in cases where the enemy presents themselves as a \”SBU employee\” and assigns criminal tasks to be done \”in the interest of the Ukrainian State\”. This is the so-called \”false flag\” special operation technique which, up till now, has not been used by Russian invaders, but which they are now actively trying to employ.
In the past few weeks, the SBU has thwarted several such crimes and urges Ukrainians to stay vigilant and not fall for enemy provocations. The recruitment tactic increasingly used by Russian special services involves citizens being sent summonses to appear for questioning by an alleged SBU investigator due to so-called criminal investigations.
Subsequently, unknown persons would contact the individual by phone offering to \”close the criminal case\”. To \”resolve the issue\”, they demand execution of tasks such as: tracking a person’s movements, transferring unknown items from one address to another, making money transfers to an unknown account allegedly for \”donations to the Armed Forces\”, purchasing necessary chemical elements and building an improvised explosive device, setting fire to a Defense Force vehicle or administrative building, committing sabotage, and so on.
During these contacts, Russian handlers also require installing malicious software on the phone to monitor the gadget’s owner. While previously the primary targets for recruitment by Russian special services were teenagers, now it includes elderly people too.
We stress that the Security Service of Ukraine operates exclusively within the framework of current Ukrainian legislation. SBU representatives do not demand the installation of external software on phones and never set any dubious \”tasks\”. If you receive a suspicious-looking summons or are contacted by unknown individuals claiming to be SBU employees, contact the official Security Service chat bot: t.me/spaly_fsb_bot. Alternatively, report such incidents to the SBU hotline: 0 800 501 482.