According to sources consulted by the Guardian newspaper, Chinese cyber spies set up a fake Facebook account bearing the name of Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s top commander, in an attempt to trick colleagues, friends, and family to disclose personal information about the admiral.
A NATO official told the newspaper that Stavridis, who is the supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR), had been targeted on several occasions: "There have been several fake SACEUR pages. Facebook has cooperated in taking them down… the most important thing is for Facebook to get rid of them."
The official added: "First and foremost, we want to make sure that the public is not being misinformed. Saceur and Nato have made significant policy announcements on either the Twitter or Facebook feed, which reflects Nato keeping pace with social media. It is important the public has trust in our social media."
Although NATO did not cite China as the source of the scam, several sources consulted by the newspsper said that China was most likely behind the effort. "The most senior people in NATO were warned about this kind of activity. The belief is that China is behind this", one source said.