A 27-year old Tel Aviv resident was recently arrested by police for allegedly spying on Israeli public officials for Iran. He was reportedly paid thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for his efforts.
According to a recent news reports by i24 and Arutz Sheva, Israeli authorities claimed that the suspect, a man named Or Beilin, was paid thousands of dollars in crypto to conduct espionage on Israeli public officials and political activities.
Following his handler’s instructions, the Israeli man was assigned to spy on public officials by taking photographs of their homes in secret, documenting government military installations and report on political spray-painted graffiti.
The 27-year-old was arrested on June 24 by the Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service. The police raided his home and seized the culprit’s computer and other digital equipment used to receive crypto payments and communicate with Iranian contacts.
He has been temporarily detained under suspicion as authorities continue to carry out more investigations into the matter.
According to the report, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court has extended his detention until June 26 as the investigation continues.
In an announcement, authorities have warned civilians about the underlying threat of Iranian intelligence services and affiliated terrorist organizations to recruit Israeli citizens to carry out espionage and other hostile activities.
According to the police, people are often recruited through social media platforms. Handlers often lure them in with the promise of money, crypto or any other means of rewarding them for espionage. The police urged residents to report any suspicious recruitment from foreign actors.
Most recently, the police have arrested two other Israeli citizens were also arrested for similar espionage activities. One of them is 28-year-old Dmitri Cohen, who is accused of gathering intelligence on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son’s fiancée.
Cohen was reportedly promised a batch of cryptocurrency worth $500 for each completed task, accumulating thousands of dollars.
Iran retaliates against the U.S. and Israel
Recently, Iran retaliated against the U.S. after it launched a major bomb in Iran targeting three nuclear sites. On June 24, Iran fired missiles at a a U.S. base in Qatar. However, the U.S. were able to intercept the missiles and successfully prevented casualties in the attack.
The crypto market reacted positively to news of the interception, with Bitcoin briefly rebounding over the $103,000 level after previously dipping below the $100k threshold.