silverguide.site –

When the first emails arrived, they were easily dismissed as spam. But as strangers continued to boast about their defence and security credentials, they became impossible to ignore.

From mid-2025, a small Australian consultancy firm called Horizzen started receiving emails and strange calls from people applying for vague jobs in the United States.

It would have been an ambitious global expansion for the Brisbane-based firm, which only had a few domestic clients. Except, it wasn’t hiring.

Without its knowledge, a fake consultancy firm impersonating Horizzen had been launched online. It claimed to be an “architect of influence” and was overseeing a recruitment blitz for experts in defence, trade and politics.

“It was using our company name, business address, phone number and content, but with a different design,” a Horizzen spokesperson said.

“At first, I dismissed it as a cheap knock-off.”

Some determined jobseekers, eager to impress, also sent their detailed CVs and cover letters to Horizzen’s Australian email address. They’d been deceived into thinking they were the same organisation.

In June – one year after the emails first arrived – Horizzen realised the scale of deception.

The website falsely assuming its identity had been seized by the US Department of Justice, as part of an ongoing multi-agency investigation into alleged Chinese espionage.

The company had been drawn into what western intelligence agencies allege is a systematic campaign by Chinese spies to recruit and pressure people into revealing valuable secrets.

Websites used to ‘trick, recruit, coerce’

In early June, Australia’s domestic intelligence agency joined counterparts in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand to issue a rare public warning. They were convinced that Chinese spies were running fake consultancy firms and posing as recruiters on platforms like LinkedIn.

The intelligence services alleged that successful job applicants were tested for their knowledge of key issues, and then paid for reports. Eventually, the fake firms would push for “more privileged information” and switch to encrypted messaging services.

“Chinese intelligence officers pose as online HR recruiters or consultants who represent fake, but often legitimate looking ‘cover companies’ and claim to be located in countries outside China,” the joint Five Eyes statement said.

Within 24 hours of that warning, the FBI obtained a warrant to seize the website impersonating Horizzen. It also shut down another 12 websites accused of targeting US citizens who have valuable knowledge.

One allegedly belonged to a fake consultancy firm that was pretending to be based in Western Australia, a US court heard. Job adverts for the company were allegedly posted by someone based in Thailand. A LinkedIn profile for the consultancy firm remains online today, but claims its office is in Melbourne.

In an affidavit provided to the court, a senior FBI officer alleged all 13 seized websites were created to “recruit individuals in the United States to obtain sensitive and possibly classified information in exchange for monetary payments” on China’s behalf.

The FBI agent told the court that the websites used a mixture of aliases, stolen identities and AI-generated photographs to deceive applicants.

According to the FBI, the consultancy firm pretending to be Horizzen told recruits they would “establish a formal relationship” with another consultancy firm, called Catalyst Global Solutions (CGS), whose website was also seized by the FBI.

CGS’s website and job adverts claimed it was “among DC’s top firms”, despite having a listed address in Lahore, Pakistan.

And according to the FBI, CGS used an Australian job website to recruit analysts and consultants who specialised in “international relations” and “geo-politics”.

In at least one case, it is accused of directly seeking an expert in the Indo-Pacific region.

It’s unknown whether they succeeded.

When the 13 websites were seized, Roman Rozhavsky, the FBI’s assistant director responsible for counter-intelligence, alleged they “illustrate the lengths the Chinese government’s intelligence services will go to as they try to use AI-generated content to trick, recruit, or coerce”.

That claim has been flatly rejected by the Chinese embassy in Canberra.

An embassy spokesperson told Guardian Australia: “the US accusation has no factual basis and is purely smears and denigration”.

“China firmly opposes this.”

‘Shock and disbelief’

In Brisbane, confirmation of the FBI’s investigation left the small team at Horizzen stunned.

“My first reaction was shock and disbelief,” the company spokesperson said.

“What is the reputational damage to the company and other people who may have been misled?”

Horizzen believes its identity was deliberately copied by the fake consultancy firm to make it appear authentic, trusted and long-established.

“I cannot say who created it or what they intended, but the extent of the copied information makes coincidence very difficult to accept,” a spokesperson said.

“It clearly shows that identity theft can happen to any legitimate businesses.”

The FBI has accused those websites of deliberately obscuring their true location to deceive applicants. It told a US court the website impersonating Horizzen has been registered in India.

“While we cannot comment on an ongoing investigation, the FBI is aware that malicious online actors often use ‘spoofing’ or other techniques to appear legitimate when targeting innocent people and businesses,” an FBI spokesperson told Guardian Australia.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation did not comment on Horizzen’s experience, but has repeatedly warned of similar espionage activity.

In 2024, Asio alleged a spy ring known as “the A team” was targeting Australians with access to privileged information on LinkedIn.

“The spies pose as consultants, headhunters, local government officials, academics and thinktank researchers, claiming to be from fictional companies,” Asio’s annual threat assessment said.

‘Frightening scale’

While the suspicious emails and calls to Horizzen’s team have stopped, they remain concerned their experience may be increasingly common.

Like the FBI, they worry that rapid developments in artificial intelligence are making it easier for malicious actors to deceive innocent people.

“My experience shows that online impersonation can be far more serious than it first appears,” the spokesperson said.

“Whether or not AI was used in this case, AI gives opportunists the ability to create convincing websites, communications, images and corporate identities quickly, cheaply and at frightening scale.”

Five Eyes intelligence agencies are urging anyone who believes they’ve communicated with a suspicious consultancy firm or recruiter to report all details of their interaction.

“Ensure you disengage from the profile and don’t interact any further,” Asio’s official guidance says.

In Brisbane, Horizzen is urging people not to ignore any suspicious activity.

“Businesses and individuals need to take unexpected approaches, strange websites and apparent impersonation seriously, because what looks like ordinary spam may be connected to something far more sinister,” the spokesperson says.