Israelis receive calls with recorded messages trying to recruit Iranian agents

The National Cyber Directorate said Saturday it was investigating multiple reports from Israelis who received calls with recorded Hebrew messages trying to recruit, threaten and intimidate them.

According to the Ynet news site, one of the recordings claimed to be from Iranian intelligence, looking to recruit agents.

“Iranian intelligence is looking for official agents — competitive salary, comprehensive security. Find us on Telegram and the internet,” one of the recordings said, as quoted by Ynet.

An unnamed man told the outlet that he and his wife received a call in which they were offered financial payment if they were to enlist as an agent for Iran.

The cyber directorate warned people not to answer calls from numbers that began 03-6817 and 03-3067, and to disconnect immediately if answered inadvertently.

However, the National Cyber Directorate emphasized that simply answering the call would not damage the phone.

Police said that people who received the calls should immediately block the number and report it to law enforcement authorities.

Dozens of cases have come to light over the past two years in which Iranian agents have successfully recruited Israelis into espionage schemes via social media, specifically the Telegram messaging app. Most of the accused spies start out with innocuous tasks that gradually grow into more serious offenses, like intelligence gathering and assassination plots.

The growing number of Iranian agents has even prompted Israel to open up a new wing for them in Haifa’s Damon prison.

The operatives are usually ordinary civilians contacted by Iranian intelligence officers online. The effort appears to be part of a mass recruitment scheme by Tehran to gather intelligence on Israel’s alleged nuclear and military sites, as well as key Israeli figures such as defense officials and top scientists.