How Indian youth is getting trapped in Pakistan & China's spygame

They are students, factory workers, guards, clerks, and even paramilitary jawans. None of them looks like spies. But one by one, they’ve been pulled into a web of betrayal, orchestrated from Rawalpindi’s ISI headquarters and Beijing’s digital command centres.

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In the last few months, Indian intelligence agencies have uncovered an alarming new pattern — young Indians, some lured by ideology, and some by cash, for selling their country’s secrets in exchange for digital breadcrumbs.

Operation Sindoor, a measured and targetted response to the Pahalgam terror attack, in which India flattened nine terrorist hideouts across Pakistan and the PoK, opened the floodgates.

Top Intelligence sources have told The Tribune that soon after the success of Operation Sindoor, Pakistan immediately activated its sleeper cells and spies within India, in a possible move to retaliate through non-state actors.

Just in the past month, close to 15 people in India have been arrested in rapid succession, while dozens have been rounded up.

It all began with Jyoti Malhotra, a young woman charmed online by a man claiming to be a Pakistani diplomat, who was caught passing along sensitive troop movement information. She received payments online in exchange for sharing classified information.

Moti Ram Jat, a CRPF Assistant Sub-Inspector, fell for a honeytrap and leaked operational data for just Rs 20,000. Devendra Singh Dhillon shared military updates with a Pakistani woman who had convinced him she was in love. These weren’t hardened agents, but ordinary Indians led astray by extraordinary manipulation.

"The digital fingerprints stretched across platforms — WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, even dating apps. Payments ranged from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Some received cryptocurrency through the dark web. Others were paid via gambling apps and international wallets," the source said.

But how did intel agencies get the smell of Pakistan's nefarious designs?

As per sources, the security agencies first began to sense something was amiss when a routine analysis of digital activity post India-Pakistan ceasefire revealed a curious pattern—certain phone numbers and social media profiles had remained "unusually active" during the conflict.

"These accounts, on closer inspection, were found to have consistent and covert links with handlers based in Pakistan," the source said.

What began as background monitoring quickly escalated into a full-scale probe, as investigators unearthed a sophisticated espionage network operating under the radar. Agencies traced a web of encrypted communications, anonymous financial transfers, and suspicious app usage—all pointing toward ISI-backed infiltration efforts.

The real breakthrough came when analysts followed a series of obscure financial trails during Operation Sindoor. Deep scans of the dark web exposed transactions involving hawala, UPI, and cryptocurrency, originating from across the border and landing in accounts tied to low-profile individuals across India.

Social media has been a real problem in the spread of the enemy country's spy network. "The enemy doesn’t need to cross borders or plant physical devices anymore. The enemy logs in, chats, befriends, charms, transfers money—and vanishes," another officer aware of the matter said.

Moreover, AI tools have flagged over 10,000 social media accounts in direct contact with Pakistan-based users. Many of these belonged to Indians in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Notably, the Indian intelligence and security agencies are not just battling the spy network from their western neighbour, but even China, riding the wave of Indo-Pak tensions, has reportedly launched an aggressive campaign to push an app called RedNote into Indian devices.

RedNote, according to intelligence insiders, is no ordinary platform. It is a Chinese social media app, highly active and influential in Northeast India, particularly in regions like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Assam. "The app has become a platform for psychological operations, allegedly used by Chinese and Pakistani agents to manipulate and influence local sentiments," the source said.

Using AI-generated misinformation, such as fake R&AW documents, doctored videos, and distorted maps, the platform spreads content that undermines national unity. Messages like “Delhi is too far” and false promises of Chinese support aim to stir separatist feelings, the source added.