{"id":20558,"date":"2025-10-28T23:41:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/20558\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T23:41:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:41:17","slug":"russian-honeypot-reveals-how-putins-sex-spies-seduce-silicon-valley-nerds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/20558\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian honeypot reveals how Putin’s sex spies seduce Silicon Valley nerds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Russian \u201csexpionage\u201d trainee<\/a> is warning Silicon Valley that foreign operatives are using romance scams and manufactured intimacy to pry loose trade secrets \u2014 and she\u2019s laying out red flags she says engineers and tech executives should spot before they get burned.<\/p>\n

Aliia Roza, a former Russian \u201csex spy\u201d<\/a> who defected from her native country after she fell in love with an intelligence target<\/a>, told The Post in an exclusive interview that she was trained by authorities to seduce and manipulate her targets \u2014 and that she started studying the tactics as a teenager.<\/p>\n

She says sex spies follow a sinister playbook designed to break down defenses before targets even realize they\u2019re being hunted.<\/p>\n

Aliia Roza, a former Russian \u201csex spy\u201d who claims she was trained to seduce and manipulate targets, said she studied persuasion tactics as a teenager. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see the target, they need to get information,\u201d Roza told The Post. \u201cThey need to manipulate the target, emotions, feelings, or whatever they can do, they will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roza was responding to a recent report by the Times of London<\/a> that said China and Russia were engaged in a sinister plot to deploy attractive female agents<\/a> to ensnare tech executives. Russia and China have an \u201casymmetric advantage\u201d since the US doesn\u2019t use the same tactics, the report said.<\/p>\n

Roza agreed, saying that unlike foreign governments<\/a>, the US strives \u201cto protect human rights\u201d. The Russians and Chinese, she claimed, \u201cmanipulate their targets in a really bad way\u201d and see their own agents as disposable.<\/p>\n

She said the manipulation follows a predetermined script \u2014 and according to Roza, a seasoned agent never approaches cold.<\/p>\n

Roza is seen above in military uniform. She is warning Silicon Valley that foreign operatives are using romance scams and manufactured intimacy to pry loose trade secrets. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

\u201cYou first appear in their life \u2014 seven times, to be exact \u2014 before making contact,\u201d she said. \u201cYou might show up at their coffee shop, their gym, or just keep liking their posts. When you finally meet, their brain already trusts you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once that familiarity is built, the agent reels the target in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with love bombing \u2014 messages full of compliments, selfies, bikini photos,\u201d Roza explained. \u201cThey pretend to be weak or alone: \u2018My parents were killed, I\u2019m a student, I\u2019m broke.\u2019 It triggers the hero instinct. Every man wants to feel like the rescuer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Then comes what is known as the \u201cmilk technique,\u201d she said, where operatives fake mutual connections to appear legitimate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fake account follows your friends or says, \u2018Bill is my brother\u2019s friend,\u2019 so you think, \u2018OK, I can trust her.\u2019 But it\u2019s all fabricated.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says these operatives follow a sinister playbook designed to break down defenses before targets even realize they\u2019re being hunted. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

With trust established, the psychological manipulation escalates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agent makes you doubt yourself,\u201d Roza said. \u201cShe\u2019ll say, \u2018Your boss doesn\u2019t appreciate you; your colleagues use you.\u2019 It creates a bond where you feel you understand each other \u2014 and the rest of the world is bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the agent begins to make threats if the desired information isn\u2019t divulged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll create stress \u2014 fear of losing the relationship,\u201d Roza warned. \u201c\u2018If you don\u2019t send this information right now, I\u2019ll disappear forever.\u2019 Under that emotional rush, people give up things they never would otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roza said tech workers are<\/a> particularly vulnerable because many are isolated and overworked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may be very smart and geniuses in what they do, but regarding dating relationships \u2026 they spend a lot of time in the offices,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a gap in between female interaction. And then it\u2019s much easier for a female to target you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roza said she was trained as a teenage \u201cseduction agent\u201d by a covert Russian intelligence program. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

She added that operatives typically prefer single employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would target someone who is single \u2026 they don\u2019t have this relationship, so of course, they become, like, very weak targets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Roza urged Silicon Valley professionals to scrutinize sudden romantic attention \u2014 especially when mixed with probing questions, name-dropping and alcohol.<\/p>\n

Roza said she moved to the US in 2020. Since relocating to the states, she has obtained her green card<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Roza said that \u201clovebombing\u201d is a popular technique used to trick Silicon Valley executives. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

On her lawyer\u2019s advice, she said she decided to be open about her past as a Russian intelligence agent in order to boost her chances of gaining legal status. <\/p>\n

According to Roza, her intelligence missions were primarily in Europe and the United Kingdom, where she was sent to seduce human traffickers, drug dealers and oligarchs who ran afoul of the Russian government. She said the total number of missions she was sent on was fewer than 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would get into serious relationships with my targets, which at that time were, like, criminals,\u201d Roza said. <\/p>\n

Confirming the report in the Times of London, Roza said these relationships included \u201cliving together 24-7\u201d \u2014 and even marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then [I would] just report [them] to my commanders and bring [them], eventually, to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

One common tactic used by Russian honeypots is to use fake social media accounts with bikini photos, pretend to be lonely students or victims of war, according to Roza. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

She said she never did any espionage against Americans or on US soil.<\/p>\n

She said she is now focused on public education about manipulation tactics across work, dating and social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on a mission to educate people how to prevent manipulation,\u201d Roza said.<\/p>\n

She is working on a book and recently signed a deal with a studio to produce a documentary about her experiences.<\/p>\n

Roza urged Silicon Valley professionals to scrutinize sudden romantic attention \u2014 especially when mixed with probing questions, name-dropping and alcohol. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

Roza also does public speaking and has emerged as a self-improvement coach who helps people gain confidence by using some of the techniques that she perfected while being trained for espionage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI teach people to be positive and purposeful to your goals and aims, and not to be bothered or distracted by any other negative or toxic people or negative events in your life,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s a very precise, strategical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roza also does public speaking and has emerged as a self-improvement coach. Courtesy of Aliia Roza<\/p>\n

She recently appeared alongside bestselling author Neil Strauss for a podcast called \u201cTo Die For,\u201d a true crime series that explores the dark world of Russian \u201csexpionage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is prevention of the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Roza told The Post that for tech workers, the best defense is methodical skepticism: slow the interaction, verify identities offline and refuse any request tethered to secrecy or urgency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Russian \u201csexpionage\u201d trainee is warning Silicon Valley that foreign operatives are using romance scams and manufactured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[288,827,13880,5970,9,11,10,9045,13881,13882,1601,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-20558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-cia","11":"tag-fbi","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-russia","16":"tag-silicon-valley","17":"tag-spy","18":"tag-tech","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}